Claymore: Wandering Knight, Phantom Claymore
by The Dark Deceiver
Summary: When an evil Dark Druid is resurrected by the Organization, Miria and the others must fight to save their land. However, even more troubles unfold as Miria's long lost brother comes to the aid with an Army. Now the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **_As we all know, I do not own Claymore or Fire Emblem even though I wish I did. You know, a disclaimer on a fan's fic is kind of moot. I mean, we **all** know that any and all fanfics are just works of entertainment and only the Original characters we make up belong to us. But, rules are rules. Ah well, I digress. _

_Enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Prologue <strong>

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><p><em>An unknown number of years <em>_ago:_

It was a quiet night when they came to the house. Men from the Organization, there for only one purpose: The young girl standing by her parents, her mother holding an infant in her arms. The parents were nervous, but they kept calm as the men walked up to them.

"So, this is the girl?" The one in the lead asked as they came to a stop in front of the family. "Yes." The father said, looking down at his only daughter. She was young, at the tender age of four, and yet she was already standing strong and firm, her gaze curious and unafraid.

"What's her name?" The man in front of them asked, looking at her. The mother shifted in place, then said only one word:

"Miria."

"Ah, a good name. Hello Miria. You'll be coming with us to a new home now."

The girl looked at the man for a minute, then looked at her parents.

"Mama, Daddy, why do I have to go with them to a new home? I like it here with you two and baby brother."

The Mother almost broke down in tears at that, but managed to keep herself in check. The Father kept his face grim, trying not to let any emotion show on his face. He looked at his daughter, then spoke:

"Because honey, these men are going to help you. They're good friends of our family so you'll be in good care, I promise."

Young Miria looked at her father with such love and trust that he was forced to look away. Turning his attention to the men in front of him, he asked:

"Now, we are giving the Organization our only daughter as a sign of goodwill and trust. I assume she will be enough to keep us in your good graces, am I right?"

"Of course." The man said evenly, smiling. "Come along now Miria, it's time to go to your new home."

The young girl, not understanding what was going on, smiled and said "OK!" She waved happily to her parents and baby brother and skipped over to the men. It would be the last time she ever saw her parents again.

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><p><em>Present day: <em>

Miria was standing on the balcony of the Cathedral of Rabona looking over the city below her. Today was a special day for her, though she wouldn't let any of her fellow warriors know it. It was personal and she wanted it to stay that way.

_It was so long ago. _She thought to herself. With everything that had been going on lately, and with the past seven years of hiding and training, she never thought about this day.

The day of her younger brother's birthday. Unlike many of the warriors in the Organization, she had been in contact with her family, what remained of it. Her parents had died while she was in training, but she wasn't really bothered by it.

It was her younger brother that she had a close bond with. He had only been an infant when she was taken in by the Organization, but a relative had taken care of him and had brought him to the Organization one day when he was sick and dying.

Miria didn't know the exact details, but she heard that her family had close ties with the Organization and had managed to get them to put a little bit of Warrior and Yoma blood in him, resulting in him being strong enough to live, but not enough to get their interest.

After that day, years ago, she never saw him again. The last she heard was that he was taken on a ship to discover other lands other then the one they were on, and the ship never came back. She didn't even know if he was still alive or not.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts and memories that she didn't hear or sense her fellow comrades until she heard Helen's voice:

"Yo, Miria! Are you there? ...Helen to Miria, come in Miria, we need you back to reality! Like, now would be nice!"

Jolting her out of her thoughts, Miria turned around to see all six of her comrades standing there, Galatea and the two warriors from the Organization, Clarice and Miata, with them. And all were looking at her.

"...What?" She asked, staring at them all. They all shifted in place for a moment, uncertain of what to say when Deneve spoke up.

"You've been acting strange all day." She said bluntly. Miria narrowed her eyes, but before she could say anything Helen spoke up:

"Yeah and it's freaking us out. You'll be saying something one minute then you'll just stare off into space the next! Are you THAT worried about taking down the Organization?"

"If that's the case then you need to get your head on straight." Deneve finished. All the Warriors looked at Miria. She thought for a while about the situation she was in.

No one in the Organization knew that she had a brother, and the men of it had long forgotten about him. This wasn't something she could easily talk about to anyone, and yet she had kept it secret for so long, and was longing to at least tell someone about it.

Heaving a deep sigh, she looked up at her comrades.

"Alright, I guess I can tell you guys. We've been through too much together to keep too much hidden-"

"Wait" Galatea interrupted her. Miria glanced at her, a little surprised.

"Share whatever is on your mind with your friends. Clarice, Miata and I will go into the cathedral and give you some privacy. I don't know what you intend to share, but it's private and something like that should be shared with close friends, and us three aren't that."

With that the three of them left, leaving all seven Ghosts of Pieta alone on the balcony. Miria smiled then her face grew serious again. Looking at her fellow warriors, her friends, she sighed again then began to tell them about her biggest secret.

"Years ago, I was given to the Organization by my parents, to ensure that my parents and the Organization were on good terms and had a mutual trust."

The other Warriors were shocked. Normally the Organization would take in orphans whose families were killed by Yoma, or would on occasion go to families and take their daughters, but never would a family willingly give their daughter to them!

The only other strange occasion was when Clare willingly went to the Organization and became a Warrior. But other then that nothing like that happened.

"However, that's not what's been having me space out today."

They looked at her for a minute, silent. Her face was full of sorrow, and they couldn't bring themselves to say anything. Eventually Clare spoke up:

"Then what is?" She asked.

Miria looked at them and smiled sadly.

"I used to have a younger brother who I would often see even after I became a Warrior."

This got their attention. Every Warrior of the Organization had no family left, except for numbers One and Two, Alicia and Beth who were twins. To think that Miria had a younger brother, and that she would see him was a surprise!

"Today's his Birthday you see. I haven't seen him in a long, long time. In fact I don't even know if he's still alive or not."

There was silence after that. All the Warriors knew how that felt, to lose a sibling. For Clare, it had been her older brother who had been the Yoma, and was killed by a Warrior.

_Just like Raki..._ She thought, and began to wonder where he was and how he was.

For Deneve, her older sister had shoved her under the bed when the Yoma attacked their family, in order to save her life. Deneve had then watched her family get killed in front of her, and watched the Yoma eat her sister while she was still alive.

It was a somber moment on the balcony as all seven were lost in memories, painful or otherwise. Suddenly Clare looked at Miria and spoke:

"What was he like?"

For the first time in a while, they all saw Miria smile, a genuine smile and not a sad one.

"He was strong for a child, that's for sure. He had bright green hair, an unusual color in our family and piercing blue eyes. As he got older, his hair started to resemble mine. He would watch me practice for hours and try to copy my moves."

Her smile faded. "One day, he fell ill. It was horrible. A relative came rushing into the Organization and using the ties my family had, got them to implant Yoma and Warrior blood into him. It saved his life, but that was also the last time I ever saw him again..."

Wanting to change the subject before Miria became sad again, Tabitha decided to ask what she thought might not be so painful for Miria to talk about:

"What was his name?"

Miria's smile returned and she looked up proudly.

"His name was-"

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><p>"Heath! Get over here and pull your head out of your rear, dangit!"<p>

The young Wyvern Lord snapped back into reality, then turned around quickly. There, striding towards him was his commander, Vaida. Upon seeing the look on her face, Heath flinched but held his ground. He was in for a storm, so he might as well take it standing and facing it.

"Yes Commander!" He said snapping to attention as she drew close to him. To his credit, he didn't flinch when she suddenly picked up a Short Spear and threw it past his head, barely missing him by inches.

"What have I told you about daydreaming? If you want to die, go ahead and do it, but do NOT bring shame to Vaida's Raiders!"

"Yes Commander! It won't happen again, I promise!"

Vaida nodded in satisfaction, then stalked away, looking for the one called Dorcas, since she was yet to meet him. Heath sighed then smiled, shaking his head.

As always his Commander was the first one to jump down his throat for any little thing, and yet if she didn't he wouldn't be the warrior he was now, let alone alive. He relaxed, then gave a small whistle and yelled "Hyperion!".

Soon enough his Wyvern came flying down to him. He hopped on the Green Wyrm and they took off into the sky to circle the camp.

A minute later he flew down to the camp where Eliwood's Army was resting. He spotted Lords Eliwood and Hector in a clearing sparring like mad. Eliwood was using his Rapier while Hector was using his Wolf Beil, and it was obvious to anyone that Hector was losing, and badly.

"Dangit Eliwood stand still for crying out loud! It's not like this'll kill you! Maybe hurt you a bit but that's what we have Clerics and Sages for!"

Eliwood simply laughed at his friend and dodged another fatal blow, lightly sticking his sword into the gaps of armor that Hector wore.

Turning away from the sight, Heath looked around. In the distance he spotted all five Paladins, Marcus, Isadora, Lowen, Sain and Kent all training. Out of the group it was Kent who was doing the best. Calmly dodging both Lowen and Sain's attacks, he smacked the two off their horses with his Silver Lance, then drew a Steel Sword and blocked Isadora's swing. When faced against Marcus, he grabbed a Spear and charged him. Marcus sheathed his sword and drew a Hand Axe and threw it at Kent.

However it simply bounced off of Kent's armor and Kent threw his Spear, knocking Marcus off his horse. Kent then dismounted and helped the veteran Paladin up and together they walked over to the other three and began to discuss tactics when fighting another Paladin.

Heath liked Kent. He was a down-to-earth kind of man and had readily accepted Heath as a member of their little Army and had even offered Heath to join the Knights of Caelin.

Thinking of Caelin got Heath to think of the woman he might be working under, the Lady Lyndis. Chuckling, he knew where to turn to find her if she wasn't busy sparring or defending her friend Florina.

Heath walked towards a plain looking tent of moderate size. It's color was a dull greenish brown which helped it easily blend in with the surrounding area. Stopping a few feet away, he looked inside to see Lyn bent down slightly looking at a table covered in maps, notes, biographies that each member of the Army had wrote down about themselves, what their weaknesses and strengths were, and more.

Sitting at the table was the one man whom everyone in Eliwood's Army had placed their life in his hands: Mark the Tactician.

Now Mark was a mysterious man. Nothing was known about his life and he seemed to like it that way. He was friendly towards everyone in the Army and even Vaida who normally hated everyone liked him and trusted him.

His Brown hair covering his eyes at the moment, Mark was busy in what seemed to be a map of Bern, the region they were currently in, his dull Green cloak draped around his body while Lyn talked to him and would occasionally reach over and point to something near Mark on a map, brushing hands as she did.

Whenever Lyn wasn't busy with something, she could always be seen with Mark. Heath had heard from Sain and Kent that Lyn had saved Mark's life two years prior to the current day. Mark had then been with Lyn the whole time as they traveled around, until they ultimately met Sain and Kent and went on their quest to save Caelin from an uprising.

Heath was a little jealous of how close Lyn and Mark were. Everyone in the Army was. If a stranger were to come along at that moment and ask Heath about the Army, Heath would respond that it could largely be divided into two groups:

The men who all but Dorcas, Harken, Pent, Nils, Marcus, Jaffar, Canas, Matthew, Wallace, Oswin and Hawkeye liked Lyn in some small romantic way.

The Women who all but Isadora, Louise, Ninian, and Nino who liked Mark in some small romantic way.

Heath shook his head and smiled. What a strange Army they were! But under Mark's guidance, and Eliwood's leadership, they easily overcame any trouble that came after them.

Currently the Army had met up once again under strange events. The Dragon's Gate on the Dread Isle had been opened and Nils had been thrown out. Not knowing why, Nils had wandered around for a bit, confused and wondering what was going on.

It had been only three months since Nergal's death and the fight with the Fire Dragons, and everyone was uneasy. They had heard reports from Ostia's spies that the place where Nergal had been buried had been broken into and Nergal's body had been removed.

To make things even more uneasy, Etruria and Bern had begun moving, doing strange things and almost going to war. Rumor was that they were doing this to seek out Mark, and get him to be one of the country's Tactician, something Mark despised.

He had made it very clear that he was not a Tactician for hire and had only helped Lyn with Caelin because she saved his life and only helped the crisis with Nergal because it threatened the world. But both countries persisted and Mark had gone into hiding, until Lyn had found him and begged for his help, which Mark readily agreed.

Turning away from the tent Heath began making his way to his own tent, when he was attacked from behind. Something hard struck his back and knocked him to the ground.

He cried out in surprise, then immediately started defending himself from his attacker. He couldn't get his weapons in time, so he lashed out with his hands towards the enemy's head and chopped at the neck.

The man cried out and withdrew away from Heath, who jumped up ready to fight. However he stopped short at the sight of the man laying on the ground, laughing at him. The man had purplish silver hair and the same color eyes. He was wearing a dark blue cloak around a lighter blue tunic and brown pants. A dark blue headband was in his hair and he had a large gash on his left eye.

"Legault!" Heath roared at the man on the ground. Legault continued to laugh, not bothering to get up. Heath stood there for a minute, then walked away shaking his head. Legault had gotten a new hobby:

Surprise attacking anyone who was unaware from behind.

And he never learned either. The first time he tried it with Karel it took Karla, Guy, Raven, Harken and Jaffar clashing their swords and daggers against his to prevent him from finishing off Legault who was laying on the ground being healed by Serra and Lucius while Renault read him his last rites.

Heath eventually made it to his tent, after getting waylaid by people he knew and fought with. When he finally reached it, it was dark and everyone was settling down for the night.

He stationed Hyperion near the door to his tent with instructions to eat Legault if the Assassin came close then walked in. Gazing around, he spotted the object he was looking for: A small mirror. He picked it up and looked into it.

His Silver eyes glittered back at him as he regarded himself. He reached up and absentmindedly felt the silver half that went through his hair, then threw the mirror down and collapsed on his cot.

Gazing up his thoughts once again turned to what he was thinking about earlier that day when Vaida had reprimanded him.

_How can I not have thought about it before?_ He thought to himself. _It's been so long, and yet I can still remember it like it was yesterday._

Closing his eyes, Heath thought back to the older sister he once had, long ago. He thought about his life before being brought to Elibe on that ill-fated ship.

As his breathing deepened, one last thought came up before he fell asleep.

_Miria._

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><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>_Ok, this should be an interesting story. I've been thinking about a Claymore/Fire Emblem crossover for a long time now, but I didn't have any ideas on how to incorporate it._ _Well, after __reading some support conversations while playing Fire Emblem, I noticed how Heath and Miria kind of looked alike, in my opinion._

_I also noticed quite a few character in Fire Emblem who would get along **very **well with some Claymores, and as a result this was born! Prologue is a little long for my kind of work, I know. I'm not sure if the other chapters will be this long or not, but hey as long as the story's good it's fine right?_

_Well, hope you enjoy this!_


	2. Chapter One: Dark Resurrection

**Chapter One: _Dark Resurrection_**

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><p>Dae walked quickly down the hallway of the Organization headquarters to the meeting room. He hadn't been this excited since creating the Abyssal Eaters! He had gotten a report that some retrievers had just returned from a long expedition in other distant lands and they brought something with them:<p>

A body of what they called a Dark Druid. Dae hadn't gotten anything else so he was hurrying as fast as he could to the meeting chamber to see what exactly they found. Once he got there, he saw that the others, Rimuto, Orsay, Ermita, and Rado, were already there, staring at a body on the center of the room.

"So you finally showed up, Dae." Rimuto spoke up when Dae entered the room. Dae grinned but didn't say anything, seeing the body on the ground in front of him. He walked over to it to get a closer look.

The body was of a man, though how old was anyone's guess. He had short greenish hair and a small green goatee. Even dead Dae could see the malice on the man's face. His right eye had a horrible scar which disfigured it, making it large and unnatural. He was dressed in black robes and near him was an unwrapped turban, which Dae guessed was used to cover his eye.

"Well? What do you think this is?" Rimuto asked Dae. Dae glanced up at him and smiled. "Besides the obvious, I'd say this is a rather fascinating specimen."

A small chuckle came from a corner of the room, and as the men turned to look, Rubel stepped out of the shadows. "What seems to have you in good spirits, Rubel?" Asked Rimuto.

"Oh, nothing much. It's just that the Warriors won't go anywhere near that body, no matter how much prompting they're given."

Rimuto looked at Rubel, then raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate on that Rubel?"

"Fufufufufu, very well then. All the Warriors can sense power emitting from that corpse, and it makes them nervous. Every one of them has said the same thing."

Orsay who had been standing by quietly spoke up:

"And what would that be?"

"That the body is evil, and so is the power within it." Rubel said smiling. Rimuto looked at the others gathered, then spoke.

"Well then, what do you propose we do with this?" Dae immediately spoke up:

"I wish to resurrect him."

This brought silence to the men gathered as they stared at Dae incredulously. Rimuto looked at him for a minute.

"Any reason in particular that you want to, Dae?"

"Well, if the Warriors are nervous around the body, and what they say is true that there is power inside this...man, then I wish to unlock that power. Besides, it'll help with our research. And you know how important that is."

The men all stood or sat there, thinking. Dae had brought up a good point, and yet if it backfired then the Organization could face some serious setbacks.

Finally Rimuto spoke up:

"Very well then Dae. How do you intend to resurrect this corpse?"

Dae smiled eerily, then said:

"Using the flesh and blood of Awakened Beings.

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><p>Miria was uneasy. She didn't know why or how but she just knew that something horribly wrong was going to happen, and she couldn't tell what it was!<p>

She started pacing around her room. It was in the middle of the night and she had woken up violently, covered in sweat. She couldn't shake the feeling that somewhere, someone was making a terrible mistake.

Unable to get back to sleep, Miria grabbed her claymore and decided to take a walk around the cathedral. Eventually she entered the chapel hall and looked up at one of the stained glass windows.

On it was the image of the twin goddesses, Teresa and Clare. Shaking her head at the irony of it, she continued her walk, not knowing or caring where her feet took her.

Soon she found herself in the baptismal chambers of the cathedral. Raising an eyebrow at this, Miria turned around, only to find the way she came in from blocked by solid wall.

_Wha-? _She thought in confusion. It was unlike her to get lost anywhere.

_I could have sworn this is where I came from, so where's the door?_ Before she could search anymore, she suddenly sensed a presence behind her.

She froze, then slowly reached up and grabbed her claymore, then whirled around. Standing there was a man dressed in strange robes. His face was shadowed by the hood he wore, so she couldn't make any features out.

"Who are you?" Miria demanded, not taking her hand away from her sword. The man, if it **was** a man, shifted slightly, but didn't say anything.

"Are you one of the priests or acolyte here?"

The man finally looked at Miria and spoke:

"...No, not really."

Miria started. The man had her voice! Not only her voice, but he spoke just like she did! Drawing her sword, she glared at the man in front of her.

"What **are** you?"

"Bramimond." The man spoke, still echoing Miria's voice and tone.

Miria hesitated slightly, unsure of what to do. It was obvious that the man was the one who made the door disappear, but she didn't know why or what he wanted.

Suddenly the man started talking:

"Soon you will have to make an important decision, Phantom Miria. Trouble is coming, and if not stopped it will mean the end of everything you know, and more."

"Wha-?"

"I ask you now: When this danger reveals itself, do you want help? Will you accept the aid I offer to you?"

"What danger! What are you talking about?"

The man, Bramimond, raised a hand and suddenly the room got brighter. With his hand still raised, Bramimond pointed to their right, causing Miria to look.

They weren't in the baptismal chambers anymore. They were back in the chapel hall, and in front of a large stained glass window, one she had not seen before.

It was huge, and depicted on it were several images. At the bottom of the window was the strangest thing she ever saw:

Dragons. But that wasn't the only thing on there. She saw eight figures with various weapons above the dragons, all with their weapons raised in victory.

Looking above that, she saw another, equally strange, scene:

A man in dark robes, his face obscured by shadow, throwing the land into darkness. Following the scenes on the window, she finally looked at the last one.

It was the most grand out of the images. It showed a small army, following three people out of a large, large building. The first thing that caught her attention was the group in front of the army.

Two of the figures were men. One was dressed in what looked like something nobility would wear and had hair the color of fire. He also carried a large sword, even bigger then the claymore Miria had. The second man was larger then the first and was dressed in armor, his blue hair standing out as he towered over his companions. He carried a huge Axe.

The third person was a woman. She had the longest hair Miria had ever seen on anyone, and it was tied in a ponytail. She was dressed simply, and carried a Katana at her side.

As Miria was looking at the window in awe, she noticed something she hadn't seen before. Upon closer examination, she realized that there wasn't three people leading the army, but _**four.**_

The fourth one was difficult for Miria to spot, as they were behind the woman in front, and wearing a dark cloak that helped them blend in. Miria looked closer and saw that this figure was also a man, but there was something strange about him. He carried no weapons at all, but from the way he walked he seemed to be of some importance to the army.

Miria stood there, staring at the window, until she suddenly heard a voice which cut through the air:

"Miria!"

She turned around to see Tabitha running towards her, and was surprised. It was morning! And not only that but the man called Bramimond was nowhere to be seen. As she realized this, the other Ghosts of Pieta came hurrying in, Galatea, Clarice and Miata with them.

They slowed down and walked up to Miria, only to stop and stare at the window. "It's beautiful" Tabitha said, gazing at it.

Clare however had something else on her mind. Something that was bothering her greatly.

"This window wasn't here seven years ago." She said quietly, causing the others to look at her.

"What window?" Galatea asked. So Miria and the others explained it to her, what it looked like and how big it was. Galatea frowned, troubled.

"We don't have anything like that in here." She said slowly. "Wha-?" Helen said in surprise.

"How can you not have something like that here, when we're looking at it right now!"

Miria's thoughts immediately turned to the man, Bramimond, who she saw that night.

"_I ask you now: When this danger reveals itself, do you want help? Will you accept the aid I offer to you?_"

_He made this window appear. But how? I'm positive he's not an Awakened Being or anyone from the Organization, and yet I don't know how someone would be able to do that. And to turn it from Night to Day? Just what are we dealing with?_

* * *

><p>Dae's excitement could be felt all throughout the Organization. Using the flesh and blood of what remained of Isley, Dae was close to resurrecting the corpse! He could barely contain his excitement at the thought of who and what the man might be!<p>

Finished, Dae backed up, admiring his work. The man was ready to be resurrected. At that moment, the other top brass of the Organization walked in.

"Oh my, finished already? I guess it's true that when properly motivated, one can accomplish much in a short amount of time."

Dae glanced at Rubel but said nothing. Rimuto looked at the corpse, then at Dae.

"So, it's ready is it? Well then, let's see who and what this man is."

Dae smiled, then walked over to the corpse. After a minute of doing something the others couldn't see, he walked away, and rejoined the group.

"There. I have filled up the yoki in his body needed to make him move. Now it's a matter of waiting."

And the wait wasn't long.

Slowly, the corpse shifted. Then, it's eyes opened. The corpse took in a breath, not daring to believe that this was real, that it wasn't just a dream.

It looked down at it's hands, and raised one, slowly curling and uncurling the fingers. It took one uneasy step, then another, stronger, step.

And with that, Nergal, the Dark Druid, was resurrected.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>_Well, there's chapter one! I would've liked it better if it was longer then the Prologue, but ah well! Now, it never explains exactly how Dae resurrects_ _the dead warriors in the Manga, so I decided to leave the hows and whens out._

_As for Isley's flesh and blood being used, why not? I'm sure that they would have been able to get a few samples, and since Isley was the strongest Abyssal one,_ _it makes sense to use him lol._

_Now, I'm not going to drag the meeting between the two groups on. I want this story to have alot more action in it then filling in the details on how they meet, what they do when they meet, yada yada. That doesn't_ _mean I'll neglect that though. I just won't delve too_ _deeply into it._

_As for Bramimond_ _popping up, well that's important to the story lol. The one thing I enjoy the most is writing about him because no matter how OOC you make him, it can easily be because of someone he's around, which makes it more fun. After all, a guy who mirrors the personality and speech patterns of people around him doesn't need to have much of his own personality._

_Well, time to work on chapter two. Expect alot of crack pairings, though **NO** Yuri or Yaoi_, _more long lost siblings__, and some surprises I'll be throwing in. Oh and this isn't cannon with anything, so expect a few things that might not make much sense otherwise._

_Please Read and Review! If you have an idea, include it in the review and I just may put it in!_


	3. Chapter Two: Beginning of Despair

**Chapter Two: _Beginning of Despair_**

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><p>Nergal stared at the men in front of him. He wasn't confused as one might think. He knew that he had died, knew that these men had resurrected him somehow.<p>

Looking around, Nergal observed the room he was in. It was a dark room, filled with the bodies of women, all who appeared to have died in all sorts of manner, ranging from beheading to being chopped up. Looking on the ground next to him, Nergal spotted his turban, and reached down and picked it up.

"Good Evening." One of the men said to him. He ignored him and wrapped the turban around his head, covering his scarred eye in the process. Finally he looked at the men, and spoke:

"It seems you are the ones who have brought me back from the dead, am I correct?"

A man stepped forward. "My name is Rimuto. And yes you are correct. We have resurrected you."

Nergal smirked and looked at Rimuto. He had seen these type of men before on Elibe, and he knew just how to manipulate and deal with them. It was so easy with humans.

"So, I guess I would be what some call in your debt, is that right?"

The men nodded. Nergal's grin widened, and suddenly the men began to get nervous.

"Well, I have no intention to serve you, or help you. You have resurrected me, but that was your biggest mistake!"

With that, Nergal raised a hand, and darkness began swirling around it.

He threw the ball of darkness at the men, and only terror lent them the speed needed to leap out of the way as the ball sailed past them, and blasted apart the wall behind them.

Laughing manically, Nergal began to destroy the room while the men ran out in terror. However Rado was too slow in getting out, and Nergal used his magic to slam the door shut.

Upon realizing that he was trapped, Rado slowly turned around to face Nergal. Nergal's evil maniacal grin was almost too much for Rado to bear and he almost fell to his knees.

"Now then my little human friend, let's see just what kind of information you can give me, hmmm?"

"I-I won't tell you anything. You won't get anything out of me." Rado said defiantly. Nergal smirked at hearing this.

"Oh, you won't? Hehe, I'm not giving you a choice in the matter. It's not your will anymore to not tell me anything. You will tell me everything you know because I will you to!"

With that, Nergal raised a hand and pointed to Rado. Suddenly, darkness began swirling around Rado's head, and the man screamed in pain as all the information was ripped out of his mind. After what seemed like an eternity to Rado, the pain stopped and the darkness faded away.

Nergal tilted his head to one side, as all the information Rado had flowed into his mind.

"Hmm? Well now, this is interesting indeed. Claymores eh? And Awakened Beings? My my, you **have **been creative haven't you? Well now, this _**IS**_ interesting indeed. So, your strongest warrior was Teresa of the Faint Smile hmm? And now your current strongest are twins called Alicia and Beth? And you're trying to create a controllable Awakened Being to fight in the war for you? Very interesting indeed. Hmm? Oh, what's this? **_Priscilla?_** Well well well."

Rado stared in horror at Nergal. He had no idea how it happened, or what the man did, but he had done **something** and now he knew everything about the Organization!

Slowly backing towards the door, Rado had only one thing in mind.

"W-who are you? **WHAT **are you?"

Nergal glanced at the man, and gave a truly evil smile.

"I am who I am. The pain of others, I do not feel. The sorrow of others does not touch me. Death feeds me. Death pleases me. I am the essence I consume."

Rado's courage completely failed him and he crashed to his knees in fear. Nergal's smile widened, and he slowly pointed his finger at Rado.

"But you may call me Nergal."

Rado screamed once, and exploded, leaving only a bloody mess on the floor where he had been. Nergal lowered his hand and laughed.

"Well, that was invigorating. Now however I need to find a proper place to stay. I guess I can use this place, seeing as the men were so kind in resurrecting me, so I believe they will be kind to lend it to me. And then, I can get back to my work. I will claim the mighty Quintessence of Dragons, and will move ever closer to perfection!"

Nergal began walking towards then door, when he stopped. Frowning, he searched through the memories that he had stolen from the man called Rado. These monsters that they created, these...Claymores interested him.

"I wonder...if I claim the Quintessence of a Claymore, or Awakened Being, then how much more powerful would I be? I guess I should find out."

With that, Nergal blasted the entire wall where the door was to dust and stepped out. He was greeted by all the Claymores who had been at headquarters, all with their swords drawn and ready to fight him.

Nergal laughed.

"So, are all you children prepared to fight me and take me down? How naive! You can attack me as much as you wish, but you will not harm me! However, I intend to claim the Quintessence of at least one of you, so I wonder who the first one will be?"

The claymores all hesitated briefly, unsure of what to do. Surely this man was insane? They had all heard what he had said to Rado inside the room, and heard Rado's scream before it all went silent, but surely he couldn't beat them all?

Suddenly, one of the warriors stepped forward and glared at Nergal.

"I am Nina, ranked 9 in the Organization! I will challenge you!"

Nergal smirked, and searched his new memories. Grinning fully now, he found the one he was searching for, and looked at the warrior.

"Ah, so you're Nina, rank 9 eh? It seems you're most prominent attack is something you call Shadow Chaser I believe."

The stunned look at the warrior's face told Nergal everything and he continued.

"You were sent to the north with three other warriors, and were knocked unconscious when more Awakened Beings appeared. However they were killed under mysterious circumstances and your little failure became a success. Am I correct?"

Nina's grip on her claymore tightened and she glared at the man. Gritting her teeth, she said "How did you know all that?"

Nergal simply laughed, and continued to laugh as Nina charged at him in anger.

"NINA STOP!"

One of the warriors cried out, but she didn't listen. She swung her claymore with all her might at the man laughing at her, but it _bounced off._

She stared in horror at Nergal, and noticed some darkness flowing around him faintly. She renewed her attack on Nergal but nothing happened! She unleashed the Shadow Chaser, but with the same effect, or lack of. Nergal smiled as his Dark Shroud continued to flow around him. Looking at the warrior, his smile became even larger and more maniacal.

"It seems you have volunteered to be the first one who I claim the Quintessence of!"

Before Nina could register what had happened, she suddenly began to scream in pain, though no wounds were evident on her body.

"NINA!" The same warrior screamed her name, and started to charge. However one of the other warriors, the one called Audrey, stopped her. Everyone stared in horror at what was happening, and Nina's screams only became louder.

Suddenly, she stopped screaming and collapsed to the ground. She gave one final violent jerk, and then went still. The warriors all stared in absolute horror at what had just happened. Suddenly Nergal started laughing insanely, causing them all to look at him.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! So, this is what the Quintessence of what humans call a Claymore is like! Magnificent! Truly magnificent! More! I MUST HAVE MORE!"

The whole building began to shake and collapse in on itself. Finally, the warriors and members of the Organization's courage left them all completely and they all fled. However not all of them made it out.

Some were crushed by falling debris while others began falling, screaming in pain as Nergal stole their Quintessence.

Large black spikes began to burst from the ground and the landscape all around Staff began to change. Claymore and Human alike ran for their lives in terror in the face of an enemy that they've never seen before. One who couldn't be stopped by a sword.

* * *

><p>Mark jolted awake, panting heavily. Sweat poured down his body and he couldn't stop shaking. It had to be a dream, it just <strong>had <strong>to be! But Mark knew better. He had these types of dreams before, during the quest to free Caelin from Lundgren, and then during the quest to find Eliwood's father, and to rid the world of Nergal.

He had never spoken to anyone about these dreams, and didn't intend to. He knew what they were: Visions of what was going on in far away lands, and they were always important and all had one thing in common:

They always showed signs of great evil or danger. He had known that Lord Helman of Santaruz had been dealing with the Black Fang, had **seen **them talking, and so he had suggested to Eliwood to stop by Santaruz to get an escort, knowing what would happen.

Shaking his head, Mark stood up and put on his cloak, then left his tent. He looked around at the tents of the small army that they had assembled, and found Eliwood and Ninian's tent. He started walking towards it, but stopped.

He wondered if it was really ok to go wake Eliwood up and tell him his plan. No, better to think more on his plan and find the pros and cons before executing it. So with that in mind, Mark walked back to his own tent, which was father away from the army and alone.

Inside he went to a old chest and unlocked it. Opening it, he beheld it's contents:

Maps. Thousands of them. Mark had a map of every region on Elibe, as well as the entire continent's map and more. He had maps for lands far off, and secretly, unknown to even his oldest friends, and even his family, what was left of it, Mark carried an ancient map of the whole world.

Rummaging through the chest for a while, Mark pulled out one map in particular: A map of Bern. Walking over to his table, which was already covered in smaller maps of the surrounding area and other assorted notes, Mark spread the map of Bern out and began tracing a safe route to the Shrine of Seals.

As he did, he began to think of what to tell Eliwood, Hector and Lyn. He wasn't going to reveal his dream, but he didn't want to just blindly lead them to the Shrine of Seals without them knowing anything. Finally, after hours of thinking, just as the sun was overhead and everyone was awake and moving around, he knew what he was going to tell them.

"Matthew, Legault."

As he spoke, the Thief and Assassin appeared as of nowhere from the shadows and walked in front of him.

"Yes?" They both said, cheerfully. They had both become good friends, and accomplices in crime over the three months after the war with Nergal. All Mark had to do was call their names and they'd appear in front of him.

"I need you two to go and get Eliwood, Hector and Lyn for me. And hurry."

Mark didn't even look up as their presence vanished from the room. He had to plan a proper route that would take them to the Shrine of Seals safely with the least amount of danger possible. And although he knew that they could handle anything around these parts, he didn't want to take any chances.

Shortly after sending Matthew and Legault off, he heard a group of people heading to his tent. Smiling, he listened to the footsteps each person took, and could identify who's footsteps belonged to who.

There was Hector, who was the easiest one to identify. Stomping around like he was trying to crush the earth, he was the loudest out of everyone there. Beside him was Florina, her small timid footsteps barely audible over Hector's feet.

Then there was Eliwood, who walked with a certain grace, though nothing like Lyn's or someone like Legault or Jaffar who were both Assassins, so being stealthy was second nature to them. Next to him was Ninian, who's footsteps were gentle yet firm, the sound of her dress rustling over the grass as she walked accompanying them.

And then there was Lyn. She moved with such grace and serenity that she was the one who Mark could always identify anywhere.

As they drew nearer, Mark contemplated on who the loudest footsteps out of the army belonged to:

Hector's elephant feet which shook the ground, Wallace's thunder feet which could be heard booming, who's voice coincidentally could be heard all over the encampment as he terrorized Lowen into making him a sandwich, Sain's which was akin to a Dragon roaring when he chased after one of the women in camp, or Vaida who stomped like a drill Sergent.

Wincing, Mark concluded that it was Hector's feet who took first place for loudest, and he reached down and grabbed a small old metal out of a satchel next to him, and looked up in time to see Eliwood, Hector, Lyn, Florina and Ninian come walking into his tent.

As they walked up to his small table, Mark leaned over it and handed Hector the metal, along with the remark:

"Here you go Elephant Feet. Congrats."

Hector looked positively baffled and confused while Florina and Ninian giggled and Eliwood and Lyn chuckled. Lyn looked at Mark and upon seeing his face grew serious.

"Mark what's wrong?"

The other four looked at him and he sighed and sat down in his chair.

"We need to head over to the Shrine of Seals."

They all looked at him, confused.

"Huh? Why?" Hector asked. Mark looked back at them, and began to speak, repeating what he had rehearsed earlier that morning:

"We need to speak with Bramimond. It's important that we do, and we need to do it as soon as possible. It concerns the reports we heard about Nergal's corpse."

The word 'Nergal' affected his five friends the way he knew it would. Ninian paled considerably while Florina gave a small squeak and hid behind Hector. Hector's face tightened and His, Eliwood's and Lyn's eyes hardened.

"So, you know something about that?"

Hector asked, looking at Mark hard. Mark shook his head and spoke quietly, forcing the five to lean forward, straining to hear:

"No, but I have a feeling that Bramimond does."

"It's settled then." Eliwood said, straightening up, and holding his arm out for Ninian.

"We head to the Shrine of Seals.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>_Wahahaha, run in terror of Nergal's mighty power and evil all of you! I had alot of fun writing this chapter, as it allowed us to see what would happen if the Organization_ _got to meet something like Nergal. I had to think for a second on who to kill off out of the top brass, and since Rado is such an ugly character, rivaling Dae, and since he doesn't pop up much in the Claymore series like the others, I thought "Why not? Let's go with it, see what happens!" and we got to see the result._

_Let's move on to Nergal shall we? Yes, I will admit, I beefed him up a bit in terms of power. Hey, how else was he supposed to gain the information about everything that's happened in Claymore and show off his bad-A self? So, I allowed him to steal the information from Rado's head_. _And I made it hurt. Also I threw in that exploding finger attack because I thought it'd make Nergal seem more evil and powerful then you see in the game. And it'd look cool._

_Oh, as for that little bit with Nina, I was going to make a Claymore die at that part, but I didn't want to use an unnamed one._ _I wanted to use someone who people might at least know, and to boot she was a single digit. As for the attack, in the game at the final chapter Athos says that using Aureola will render Nergal's Dark Cloak and allow them to do much damage to him. After all, we saw how much Forblaze did when Athos first uses it in the game against him_ _before you fight Nergal. it did nothing to Nergal. So I thought I'd throw that in, and since the Claymores don't have Legendary weapons, nothing they do will hurt Nergal. MWAHAHAHAHA!_

_So there you go, there's all the behind the scenes thing as well as letting everyone know that Priscilla isn't here! Please read and review! I need you to voice your opinions! First one to Review gets a cookie!_

_Criticize it, __praise it, flame it, I'll take it all! Well, except the flame. I'll give the flamers to either Nergal_ _for Quintessence, or to Serra as vassals!_


	4. Chapter Three: Dangerous Tidings

**A/N **

_A little explaining is in order. For starters, I changed the storyline of Fire Emblem a bit. (Please forgive me!) Priscilla is not with the army, and Raven was recruited by Lucius after Lyn talked to him. It'll all make sense later, trust me. As such Priscilla will not be making an appearance for some time. My apologies to all Priscilla fans out there. Please don't kill me._

_And last but not least, the Quintessence scene! Since in the game Eliwood, and everyone else, can't see what's happening to Lord Elbert when Nergal steals his Quintessence, I assume it's like ripping it out of him, causing no external damage, but rather akin to ripping one's soul out. With that in mind, seeing Nina die without getting cut, or damaged would shake up the Claymores and the Organization. Oh and the reason Nergal wigged out like that over a Claymore's Quintessence is because, remember, he was resurrected using Isley's flesh and blood, so instead of craving flesh, he now craves a Claymore's Quintessence. Man's got a bad addiction._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three: <em>Dangerous Tidings.<em>**_  
><em>

* * *

><p>The Army continued it's march to the Shrine of Seals. Eliwood kept them all at a sturdy pace, but also at a pace that wouldn't wear them out. He couldn't understand why Mark was so urgent to get to the Shrine of Seals, but Eliwood knew better then to doubt his friend.<p>

Under Mark's guidance and his tactics, the Army had prevailed over Nergal, defeating him and saving the world, and not a single one was lost on the battle.

Except for Athos, the Archsage. Eliwood didn't know if Mark blamed himself for that or not, as the Tactician never showed what he was thinking.

Hearing a commotion, Eliwood snapped back to reality in time to see the Army slow down to a stop. He rode forward on his horse in time to see Mark giving orders to Erk, Fiora, Kent, Will and Karel. As Eliwood rode up to Mark, Mark glanced at him.

"There's a bandit encampment up ahead. I sent those four off to scout it out. If worse comes to worse, they'll be able to handle themselves, and I sent Karel with them in case they need help."

As always, Eliwood was amazed at Mark's quick thinking and strategical prowess. He had chosen a good team to go scouting, as Erk's magic was a invaluable asset to the team, Fiora could fly up and check the enemy's positions, Kent was good with the Lance, Sword and Axe, Will could attack them from afar, and if it got too bad, Karel would decimate the enemy with his unnatural speed and skill.

The Army waited briefly for the scouting party to return. When they did return, they saw the marks of battle on them. They went straight to Mark and reported that there wasn't many bandits there, so they decided to engage them and wipe them out.

Mark nodded and then looked at Eliwood. Eliwood got the message and gave the order to continue marching.

_It's funny now that I actually think about it. _Eliwood thought as he rode beside Ninian who was talking happily to Florina.

_Mark has all the qualities of a leader, and yet he would rather take orders from Hector, Lyndis and I. I guess he's just more comfortable with being the Tactician then a leader._

Mark walked alongside Lyn as the Army made it's way nearer and nearer to the Shrine. He was quiet as always, and yet Lyn could sense unease in him, coupled with excitement. Lyn wondered what was troubling him, but decided against asking him about it.

Out of everyone in the Army, Mark's past was the most unknown. In fact, the only few people who's pasts were just as unknown were Jaffar, Karel, Renault, Hawkeye, and, surprisingly, Heath. However, some things were known about the others, and slowly, bit by bit, their pasts were becoming known. Except for Mark, Karel and Heath.

While little was known about Karel, learned from Karla, and one could go to Vaida for information on Heath, Mark's past was a complete mystery to everyone around. He never mentioned it, never showed any personal items that might have belonged to family, and they never met anyone anywhere who knew him personally.

Lyn was a little upset that Mark wouldn't even tell her about himself, but she knew that was just the way he wanted. _Besides, _she thought mischievously, _Knowing everything about him wouldn't be as fun as not knowing, like it is right now._

Mark, sensing something, looked at Lyn out of the corner of his eye, in time to see her eying him mischievously. She looked over at Florina, and he rose an eyebrow. He knew she was plotting **something**, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know what it was or not.

* * *

><p>Finally, after days of marching and with almost no confrontation with any enemies, they made it to the Shrine of Seals. Eliwood, Hector, Lyn and Mark all walked up the steps of the Shrine, and stopped short at the top.<p>

"Now what?" Hector asked. Before anyone could answer, there was a flash of light and suddenly they were underground, in Bramimond's chamber. Hearing a slow shuffling noise, the four turned around to see him standing there, staring at them from under his hood, his face still hidden from them.

"Bramimond." Eliwood said respectfully, causing the legend to look at him. Bramimond said nothing, then turned to look directly at Mark. The others shifted uncomfortably.

"I knew you would come." Bramimond said, still looking at Mark. The others all started in shock. Bramimond reflected the personality of the person who faced him, and as such would mimic their voices and tone. However when Bramimond spoke to Mark, the voice was neutral toned and quiet, making hearing his actual voice difficult, but enabling them to understand what he was saying.

Mark said nothing and continued to stare at Bramimond from under his own hood. After a minute, Bramimond looked away and addressed Eliwood, Hector and Lyn:

"Nergal has been resurrected."

Those four words had more effect on the three lords then any weapon could ever hope. Hector's eyes went wild with fury and the grinding of his teeth could be heard clearly. Lyn went pale, and stumbled back a bit but held her ground, and her gaze shot to Mark who continued to look at Bramimond.

_He knew! He knew and that's why he wanted us to come here! Why didn't he tell us? Why didn't he tell **Me?**_

Eliwood stood there, unmoving. In his eyes was a river of emotion, ranging from Anger to Sorrow, from Fear to Pity, and finally settling on a look that ranged from Disbelief to Understanding.

"HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE **DEAD!**" Hector yelled, loudly taking a step towards Bramimond.

"CALM DOWN AND I MAY BE INCLINED TO TELL YOU!" Bramimond yelled back, echoing Hector's voice and tone causing the Great Lord to stop and breathe deeply before calming down.

"Bramimond, please, we need to know how this is possible." Eliwood said gently, trying to stay calm himself despite the torrent of emotion and memories going through his head.

"Very well." Bramimond said. he looked at all four of the people standing in front of him and began to talk:

"As you have all probably heard, the shrine that contained Nergal's body was broken into and his corpse was removed."

Hector growled, irritated that Bramimond was repeating things that they already knew. Bramimond glanced at him annoyed and began speaking again, with Hector's voice and tone this time due to his interruption:

"However, what you **don't **know, obviously, is that these men were not from Elibe but rather from a distant island far away from any major land. As it should be obvious, that is where they took Nergal's corpse and resurrected him. How I do not know, so do not bother asking me useless questions."

"Wait, the men **_weren't from_ _Elibe?_**" Hector said in disbelief. Bramimond glared at Hector from beneath his hood.

"Are you hard of hearing or just dumb? Yes, as I've already said these men were **not**,and I'll even repeat it for you, **not **from Elibe."

Before Hector could loose his temper and attack Bramimond, Mark spoke up:

"Where?"

Everyone looked at Mark, and were given a shocking surprise. Mark's hood was drawn back and he was glaring at Bramimond. It was the first time they had seen such a look of anger on Mark's face.

"Where is this island?"

Bramimond smiled beneath his hood.

"So, you are determined to once again defeat Nergal. Very well. I will provide you with a chart that leads to the island. Give it to your pirate captain friend and he will lead you to it. Now leave me. I will sleep."

* * *

><p>Needless to say, the Army was shocked to hear about Nergal. Eliwood didn't expect any different, but he wasn't expecting Vaida to suddenly burst out in loud crazed laughter and start shouting about how lucky she was to get the chance to kill an enemy twice.<p>

This boosted everyone's morale by a tiny bit, but Eliwood could tell that everyone was still nervous. After thinking for a moment, he finally knew how to reassure them, and decided to put his plan into motion:

"My friends, I know that we are all shocked at this new revelation. Indeed even I tremble a bit at the thought of Nergal returning to Elibe to once again spread his evil. However Mark, Hector, Lyndis and I have decided to go to this island and put a stop to whatever Nergal's planning. I do not ask for you all to come with us. Indeed if you wish to leave now, you will be allowed to and we will not think anything bad of it."

Eliwood looked at everyone and waited for their reactions. Suddenly Marcus stood up.

"I am with you until the end Lord Eliwood!"

With that, other cries could be heard, supporting what Marcus had just said, but they were pitifully few and only came from the Knights of Ostia, Pherae, and Caelin. Eliwood's confidence sank a bit upon noting this.

Suddenly Mark walked up next to Eliwood, and everyone went quiet as Mark surprisingly began to talk.

"I do not intend to give you a big speech on what the right thing to do is, nor do I intend to ask you for your help. If you wish to leave and live the rest of your lives peacefully, no one will stop you."

"However I want to remind you all that if Nergal completes whatever horrors he has planned on that island, then you can be assured that he will return to Elibe, determined to open the Dragon's Gate once again and let Dragons roam the world. And when he does return, he will be far more powerful then he was when we managed to defeat him."

"So you have a choice: you may leave here and return to your homes, and enjoy as much time as you will have with your families until Nergal returns and wipes all life from Elibe, or you can journey with is, help us defeat him, and be assured that he will not succeed in his plans."

It was deathly silent after that. No one talked and even the birds around the area stopped chirping. it was as though what Mark said stopped time itself.

Eliwood began to wonder if Mark said the right thing when suddenly Karel walked forward.

"As long as there is someone to cut, you will have my aid."

With that Karel walked off back to the encampment, not sparing a glance to anyone as he left.

"I'm with you too Mark!" Screeched a painfully high voice as Serra shoved her way to the front.

"After all we make a good team! And besides, I'm the only sister in this Army! You'd all die without me!"

Mark smiled under his hood as he watched everyone else began to give their support and pledges of staying with the Army. However that smiled slipped away quickly that if one saw it they would wonder if it was ever there as Mark turned and began to walk back to his tent.

As he neared he, he stopped short upon seeing Lyn standing outside of the tent. All Mark needed to do was take one look at her eyes and he knew that his troubles were only beginning. Lyn looked at him for a moment, then spoke only one word:

"Why?"

Mark sighed deeply as he thought about what to tell her.

_I could tell her about what I saw. No, that wouldn't justify the fact that I knew that Nergal was alive again and hid it from them. I could always lie, but not_, _Lyn would see right through it, and I could never lie to her._

Finally Mark looked up at Lyn.

"I have no reason." Was all he said as he walked by her and entered his tent.

"I'm sorry." He quietly muttered before closing the flap to the tent.

* * *

><p>It was a extremely tense moment at the Cathedral in Rabona. The Ghosts of Pieta had all been training early in the morning in the fields when suddenly, out of nowhere, Warriors and members from the Organization had appeared! The Ghosts had all gotten ready to fight when Rimuto had walked forward, and said that they weren't there for them.<p>

After eventually getting them to settle down, and not attack them, Rimuto explained the situation to the Ghosts. When they had finally told them everything, Miria and the others had found it very difficult to believe them.

"How do we know this isn't a trick?" Miria had demanded. Rimuto simply shook his head.

"If we wanted to take you down, we could have done it before you ever realized that we were here. I assure you, what we say is the truth, and we have no intention of attacking you and making more then one enemy when we have one we've never encountered before at our headquarters."

Miria and the others still didn't believe them, but they allowed them to say their piece before making them leave. Now they were up on the balcony thinking deeply about what they had all heard.

"Should we believe them?" Tabitha asked. Helen glanced at her as though she had turned into a Yoma.

"Of course not! Why would we believe them? It's **obvious **that they're lying just to get our guard down so they can-"

"Helen, shut up." Deneve interrupted. "I'm sure that Miria has enough to think about as it is without you causing more problems."

Helen pouted and walked over to the rail and, using her stretching ability, plucked an apple from a nearby apple tree.

So far Clare had been the only one not to say anything, but rather watched everything around her. She didn't envy Miria in the slightest with what position she was in at the moment.

Miria glanced at Clare, and asked: "What do you think of this?"

Clare thought for a moment before answering and everyone looked at her.

"I don't know honestly. I know we shouldn't trust the Organization for even a second, and yet I don't think that they would come all the way out here, bringing everyone with them, just to lie to us. I did notice that the warriors were terrified. And they all confirmed what Rimuto and the other members of the Organization said. I've never seen that many warriors frightened that badly."

Miria nodded in satisfaction. "I was thinking the same. So for now, we can assume that what they're saying to an extent is true. I don't know if they told us everything about this man, but I do know that we need to be as prepared as possible in case he shows himself."

The others all nodded and began to head inside to rest. Suddenly a man just appeared in front of them, out of thin air!

Startled, they all jumped back, drawing their swords in the process. The man laughed and as the warriors got a good look at him, they realized with horror that his description matched everything that the Organization and the warriors had told them!

"Good evening." The man said, looking at them. "Am I interrupting something? Oh how can you ever forgive me?"

"A-are you **KIDDING ME?** They were telling us the **TRUTH** about this guy!"

Nergal cocked his head and looked at Helen as she said that.

"Oh? So you've already heard of me hmm? How silly, of course you have. Those who escaped must have told you about me. So, you must be the surviving warriors from the battle up north, at Pieta. Am I correct?"

The warriors all stared in horror at Nergal and he began to laugh even more.

"Ahahaahaha! Yes, I know of all of you. Incidentally, when I was kindly resurrected by your Organization, I decided to rip the memories and information out of one of the men in the room. His name was Rado I believe."

The warriors all began to back away, wondering just what type of monster this man was.

"Hmm? Leaving? Alas, that's too bad. Say, Miria, are you **sure** that the Organization is telling the truth about me? Are you **sure** that I'm the evil one here? Isn't the Organization the ones who created Yoma and you Claymores in the first place, destroying countless lives in the process?"

Nergal was pleased with the results he got from saying that. He could see the former number 6, Phantom Miria, faltering. Now time to move on to the others.

"Deneve, because of the Organization, you were forced to watch your sister get eaten by a Yoma, one of the beings created by them, while still alive. Am I really evil? I destroyed their headquarters, and killed a few of them. Is that so bad?"

By now the warriors' swords were lowered close to the ground as the Ghosts became unsure of what to do. Now it was time for the final nail in the coffin. Nergal turned to Clare.

"Ah, Clare. You have probably suffered the most out of everyone here. First, your brother turned out to be a Yoma in disguise which then killed your family and would have killed you had it not been for that Claymore who saved you. Then you were cast out of your village and were caught by a Yoma who decided to torture you day in and day out, without killing you."

Clare's eyes widened as Nergal talked. He knew that their resolve was almost gone. Now to completely destroy it!

"Clare, because of the Organization, you lost the one person in your life who was the most important thing in the world to you. Because of the Organization's selfishness, greed, and evil, they took Teresa away from you. Such a pity too. You two were so happy-"

Nergal never got to finish as Clare's claymore came swinging at his head. Nergal's eyes widened as her sword _passed through _his Dark Cloak and he was forced to teleport a few feet away to prevent himself from being beheaded.

"_Shut up._"

Nergal looked at Clare and saw that her eyes were glowing gold and her face began to distort and twist, showing incredible rage and hate on her face.

"_How **DARE**_ _you mention Teresa's name!" _

With that Clare launched herself at Nergal in a blind rage.

"**CLARE!**" Miria yelled but Clare didn't stop. She slashed at Nergal who teleported away, laughing.

"So, you're not as weak-willed as those other fools! Heheh, interesting indeed! Tell me Clare, how do you feel knowing that because of you, Teresa died?"

**_"SHUT UP!_**_**"** _Clare screamed and charged at Nergal once again. Nergal laughed even harder and used his dark magic to push Clare away, slamming her into a wall.

"Well now, it seems that you seven are actually strong enough to cut through my Dark Cloak, at least for now. Pity that you were able to resist my words, Clare. You seven would have made wonderful morphs. Be assured however that I will return, and I will crush you, and take your Quintessence."

With that Nergal teleported away, causing the other six to collapse in relief. Miria got up and walked over to where Clare had fallen, and looked at her.

Tears of rage coursed down her face as she kept turning what Nergal said over and over in her head.

"Hey." Miria said, making Clare look up. Miria offered her hand out to Clare, who wiped her tears away and stood up on her own.

"What now, Miria?"

Miria sighed and looked out at the city. Never before had they faced something like this! Nergal radiated yoki and yet he hadn't used any of it. What **was **he?

"Well, I guess we're going to have to work with the Organization this once to take him down. I'll tell you now though, some help would be really appreciated right about now."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong> _Well, there's chapter Three. I was originally stuck with how I was going to have Nergal meet the seven and get on Clare's bad side, but after talking to my younger brother **RoaringLeo **about it_ _I was finally able to start on this chapter. I recommend anyone who likes Darkstalkers_ _to read his fanfic. Trust me, it's really interesting._

_I think I did a pretty good job with that little scene between Nergal and the Ghosts of Pieta. And for some of you who I just **know** will say something about Miria and the others not doing anything, I say this:_

_If you were them, and some man just popped up in front of you, and he's the same one you just heard about, and he started talking about things he knew that he shouldn't know, and was convincing you that what he did wasn't evil, you'd start to lose your resolve too!_

_lol Good thing Clare goes berserk whenever someone like that mentions Teresa! Also a good thing that Teresa seems to be watching over Clare and occasionally will do something to either stop Clare or help her! (If you watched the Anime and saw the scene where Clare was going to kill Priscilla, you'll understand what I'm saying.)_

_Well, hope you enjoyed this rather long chapter. Now to get to work on the next one! Please read and Review! I need the Reviews!  
><em>


	5. Chapter Four: Journey

**Chapter Four: _Journey's Beginning _**

* * *

><p>Heath stretched and yawned. It was still dark out, though one could see the sky began to get lighter as he left his tent carrying a large object wrapped in cloth. He felt unusually excited today. He began to walk towards Hyperion, but stopped.<p>

_Nah, I'll let the poor fellow sleep longer. _Heath thought as he quietly walked past his Wyvern. Yesterday had been pretty trying.

Heath, Vaida, Florina, Farina and Fiora had been given orders to fly to the port of Badon and talk to Fargus, captain of the Davros and ask him if he would help them. All five had flown far and fast to give Fargus the message and he had agreed to help them, though it didn't help when Vaida challenged Fargus to a duel, one which he politely, yet firmly, declined.

Heath walked away from the camp and made his way to a small clearing. There, he unwrapped the object to reveal a Silver Blade, the only one in the camp. He picked up the large heavy blade and tested it's weight.

_I wonder... _He thought and took an experimental swing with the sword. The weight of it almost threw him off balance and he stumbled and almost fell.

_Man, this thing is more heavy then I originally thought! I'm more used to using a Lance then a sword though, so it's to be expected._

As he sized up the Silver Blade, his thoughts began to wonder, thinking back on a past that was so long ago it was difficult for Heath to know for sure if it was real or not.

_I used to watch my sister train with her sword for hours. She was fast, faster then any who were training. Heheh, I remember trying to copy her movements. I wonder if I can do that now?_

Heath gripped the Silver Blade tightly and took a stance he remembered all the warriors along with his sister using. Surprisingly this reduced the weight of the Silver Blade in his arms and took the strain off of them.

Heath smiled and took a practice swing, mimicking the form his older sister used. He began swinging the sword the same way his sister used to, gradually getting faster and faster with it.

Finally he stopped and collapsed to the ground, panting. He chuckled to himself and sat up, stabbing the Silver Blade into the ground.

_So, I can mimic her moves to an extent, but I lack the endurance and strength she had. I wonder if I can work on that..._

Heath stopped panting, and stared into the night. Why was he thinking about his past now, of all times? He never gave it a single thought before in his life, so why now? Was it because of what he heard yesterday, about Nergal?

_Lord Eliwood said that Nergal was on a island, far away._ _It couldn't be...could it? No, I must be imagining things. I'm thinking too hard on this. I am a former Knight of Bern! However..._

Heath sighed and stood up. He wrapped the Silver Blade back in it's cloth and went back to his tent. Hyperion was awake, and had been hunting it seemed. He looked up at Heath, a dead rabbit in his mouth before going back to his food.

_I should really get a sheath or something for this thing. It doesn't help that I have to carry it around wrapped up like this. Maybe Merlinus has a spare one somewhere. If not I can always ask Commander Vaida__ for one._

Putting the sword away, Heath left his tent and looked out at the camp. Since Dawn had arrived, everyone was getting up and getting something to eat before they would have to pack up and leave for Badon. Heath smirked and shook his head.

He had remembered a time when he used to be hungry all the time, just like everyone else. Now days he could go a week without eating and not be bothered at all by it, and when he did eat, it was only a little bit.

"Heath!"

Heath turned to the source of the voice calling him to see Kent walking towards him. Heath smiled and raised a hand in greeting then went to join his friend.

_I guess I can eat breakfast with a friend today._

* * *

><p>Mark was deep in study when Lyn walked into his tent. He kept going over everything on his desk, determined not to do anything that would lead to any of his comrades' death.<p>

He looked up at Lyn as she walked up to his desk.

"Yes Lyn?"

She looked at him for a moment, wondering if he was mad at her. She certainly wouldn't blame him, not after how she acted but it still pained her to think about it.

"Mark, I'm sorry for how I acted and what I said. I was wrong. You have always known what is best for us, and have never let us down. I should never have treated you the way I did. Please forgive me."

Mark sighed then stood up and walked around the desk to stand by Lyn.

"No Lyn, you did nothing wrong. I should have said something. I didn't because at the time I didn't know what to say. You were never at fault."

Lyn looked up at him and smiled. Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps outside the tent flap and they both turned in time to see Heath walk in. Heath looked at Mark and Lyn, and stood up straight.

"Lady Lyndis, Mark."

He greeted them formally. He would have called Mark Lord Mark, but he had made it clear when everyone first met him that he carried no titles and as such requested to be called just Mark.

"Yes Heath, what is it?"

Heath looked uncertain for a minute, as though he was expecting Mark to be too busy to talk.

"Er, well, I wanted to know if I could see the chart to the island we're going to."

Mark raised an eyebrow at this but decided to allow Heath to see the chart. When Heath looked at it, he was shocked though he managed to keep his face blank.

"Thank you."

With that he left the tent and hurried to his own.

_I can't believe it! It **is **the island! I-I'm going home!_

Heath was snapped out of his thoughts when suddenly Karel appeared in front of him. This was the first time they'd even been near each other, so Heath was really surprised.

"I was watching you."

Heath stared at Karel, confused, and a little nervous.

_Watching me? When and where was he watching me? Does he mean back at Mark's tent or..._

"Your sword arm is good, but you lack the proper training for that fighting style."

"Wait, what? Are you talking about this morning?"

Karel nodded, and Heath became very self-conscious. He wondered why Karel had been watching him, when suddenly something struck his mind.

"Wait, you said 'for that fighting style'. That means that you would recognize it."

Karel once again nodded.

"But, to recognize it, you would have to have been..."

Heath's eyes widened as the answer came to him. Karel stared at him a moment longer, his gold eyes glittering eerily before he walked off leaving Heath to stand there, staring in shock.

* * *

><p><em>"Master! Master wait for me!" The man turned around to regard the young girl running towards him, her long pale hair flowing in the wind.<em>

_"Master, please help me train!" The man looked at the girl, and saw the eagerness in her eyes._

_"Very well. I will train with you some more and teach you more of the sword." _

_The girl cheered and drew her claymore from it's sheath on her back. The man walked a few feet away from her and drew his own sword, a blood red Katana. They both charged each other, moving at inhuman speeds._ _The girl swung her claymore fast but her mentor blocked each one of them effortlessly._

_The girl's eyes, which were Silver, suddenly changed to Gold and became slits. Her speed increased and she sheathed her sword but didn't take her hand off the hilt. Suddenly the ground began to get torn up from the force of her swinging which was so fast the normal eye could only see her standing there with her hand on her sword hilt._

_Her mentor however could see the swings, and blocked each one of them. He then sheathed his own sword, and began to use the same technique, but his was much faster then his student's and he easily disarmed her, causing her claymore to go flying._

_"You are getting better at it. However you need to synchronize your Yoki better._ _Your sword swings are already faster then the normal warrior's, but you overuse your Yoki and concentrate it on more then just one arm. You need to release all your Yoma energy into one arm. In a way it's like one arm alone awakens."_

_"I understand." The girl said with her head lowered. The man smiled and reached out and ruffled her hair. _

_"No need to be upset. The Quicksword_ _is not a technique easily mastered. You must learn the limits of your Yoki first, as well as perfect your fighting style before you can master it. You are making good progress. Now go and get your sword and we'll try again if you want."_

_"Ok!" The girl said excitedly and ran and grabbed her sword then ran back. She examined her mentor for a moment before engaging him in battle. His __long black hair blew in the wind, covering his eyes. However she could easily see them: Gold eyes that glittered with excitement whenever he fought his enemies._

_He was dressed simply: In nomadic clothing, colored blue with white pants and brown boots made more for speed and silence then protection. His sword was held at his side, as though he was unguarded, though the girl knew better._

_There was a moment of silence between the two, and suddenly they both disappeared, only to reappear moments later in mid-air, their swords clashing causing sparks to fly. Both began fighting once again moving at speeds that were impossible to follow or achieve._

_Finally the man called a stop to the training and sheathed his sword, the girl doing the same. Off in the distance they could see a man dressed in complete black walking towards them, his face masked._

_"There you two are. What are you doing this far out and away from the training grounds?" The girl's mentor stared at the man._

_"Hello Ermita." The mentor said staring at him his gold eyes piercing the man as though he could see right through him._ "_I was teaching Ilena_ _the Quicksword. Is there a problem?" The last bit was said while the man rested his hand on the hilt of his sword._

_"No, of course not. Just think of me as a father concerned for his daughter. Besides, you have been known to_ _be more then a little rough when training the trainees._ _You are called the Bloody Swordsman for a reason, **Karel**."_

_The man smirked and motioned for his young charge to follow him as he walked. She hurried to his side and looked up at him._

_"Master, why do people call you the Bloody Swordsman?" The man chuckled and shook his head._

_"Probably because after a fight, I'm covered in the blood of my enemies. People name what they fear, and I guess seeing me covered in blood gave birth to the name. However it's not something I chose or enjoy being called."_

_Ilena smiled. Out of all the warriors in the Organization, which there were few for now, she had been chosen to be mentored by Karel, a special warrior working for them. She had once asked one of the other warriors why Karel didn't wear the special armor that all warriors wore, why he didn't have a claymore and why his eyes were always gold._

_"It's because Karel is a special warrior, the only one of his kind. He does not have the flesh and blood of a Yoma in him, like we other warriors do. Instead he has something else though we don't know what it is. He still has Yoki like the rest of us, but never uses it, and his eyes are always gold. It's rumored that the Organization couldn't make him rank number one because it seemed too weak for him, so they made a new rank_ _just for his type: Rank Zero."_

__Ilena_ had asked Karel about it and he had confirmed it, simply stating that he was only a little different. As they walked into the building of the headquarters, an older Warrior walked up to them and greeted her master._

_"Ho, Karel! I see you've been training _Ilena_ again."_

_"Hello Rosemary. And yes I have. She's getting much better at the Qucksword. She'll have it mastered before long. Soon people are going to start calling her Quicksword _Ilena_."_

_Rosemary was the current Number One warrior and second strongest Warrior in the Organization, second only to Karel. There were rumors that Karel had been the first male warrior in the Organization, and they had decided to start using a Yoma's flesh and blood for other male warriors since whatever it was that Karel had was no longer obtainable._

_Rosemary and _Ilena_ walked away, Rosemary to go on her next mission, and _Ilena_ to train with the other trainees. Karel stood there for a moment, listening to the clash of the trainees' swords and some of the other warriors' voices._

_Once long ago he could stand there forever, listening to everything around him. However, this was a memory from a time long ago and a life that no longer existed, and with that the world began to fade away._

* * *

><p>Karel's eyes opened as he heard the sound of the camp being packed up. He had been leaning against a tree waiting for this moment and had unconsciously began to remember things from long, long ago.<p>

Karel shook his head and stood up. Memories were useless to him now. He only lived for one thing, and that was his sword. He killed because he could and he sought out enemies that were stronger then himself to kill. Even in a life long ago, where he killed monsters as ordered, he had always sought out stronger enemies then himself, always choosing the most difficult opponents to fight.

"Master Karel, we're leaving!"

Karel glanced up, amused that his thoughts still wondered back to a life that didn't exist and began to walk towards the rest of the Army, ignoring the young man called Guy who kept trying to get him to teach him the way of the sword.

_We are returning to that island. There I will find opponents worthy of my blade. And I will slay them._

Karel's golden eyes began to glitter with excitement at the thought of enemies stronger then himself and he placed a hand on the Wo Dao at his side.

Yes, blood would indeed fall like rain. And it would be a glorious rainstorm indeed.

* * *

><p>Finally, after a week of marching, Eliwood's Army arrived at Badon. Lords Eliwood, Hector and Lyndis made their way to the Inn, Mark with them while the others all milled about, waiting.<p>

Heath was looking at some weapons and armor when something caught his eye, just as it had caught Karel's:

A unique suit of armor. It was all silver with a medium sized cape attached to it. It was made to where it offered some protection, but focused on the wearer being able to move without losing any of their agility. At it's side was a unique looking claymore.

Heath recognized it instantly.

_T-that's a Warrior's armor, like Sis used to wear! But, it's made to fit a male instead of a female. How did it get here?_

"Hmm? Ah, fancy that armor eh? Tell you what, I'll sell you both the whole set of armor and the sword together for 7,000 gold."

Heath looked up to see the shopkeeper standing there, and thought about what he said.

_Do I want the armor? Sure it looks like the one my sister used to wear, but I'm not a warrior like she was. Do I deserve to wear it? _

Finally after some thought Heath pulled out a bag of gold and handed over 7,000 pieces. The shopkeeper thanked him and wrapped the armor and sword up for Heath and handed it to him.

At that moment the three lords and Mark returned, Fargus in tow.

"Sure I'll help ya lads out! I know of that island very well. I used to pirate the seas around it, and sometimes I'd even do some honest work, delivering supplies there!"

"We can never thank you enough Fargus. If there's anything you ever need-"

"No lad, keep your money. I could use the excuse to go visit that island once again. Besides, if what you told me is all true, then I'd be doing something righteously stupid by not taking you!"

Eliwood smiled and shook Fargus' hand, then went to the Army and started getting them ready to go. Heath watched as the Myrmidon called Guy groaned loudly at the thought of setting foot on another ship, but he went on board anyway.

Heath hopped on Hyperion and together they took off into the air, circling the ship as the last members of their little army got on board the Davros and it began to take off.

Finally, their Journey was beginning!

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong> _Well, it's going to become more exciting and action packed from here on out! Now, I know many of you will complain about how Karel's past doesn't add up, since he's young in FE 7 and old in FE 6. Well, all I can say is he's a mysterious guy. If you think his past is weird, just you wait for the other chapters!_

_I'm very pleased with how fast I've been dishing out the chapters and I hope to be able to keep them coming this fast for quite a while! Special thanks to **thewatchman8**__ for his Review! He's the first reviewer too and that helped me get inspired to bring this chapter out so as to not disappoint lol._

_Well, there's not much else I can put for now, except that Karel never taught Guy the way of the sword lol. Please Read and Review and as always, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!_


	6. Chapter Five: Giving aid to the needy

**Chapter Five: _Giving aid to those who need it_**

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><p>"Miria look out!"<p>

A sword pierced Miria's head, only for her to vanish and reappear behind the thing that attacked her and beheaded it. An arrow sped towards her head but she moved her head to the left, and it passed by harmlessly, hitting another creature behind her.

It had been a month since the man, who they now knew to be called Nergal, had appeared before them. Shortly after he left, the city was invaded by what everyone thought to be human bandits.

How wrong they were.

These things were nothing like any Human, Yoma or Awakened Being. They had gold eyes, extremely pale skin, ebony hair, and when they died they turned to dust after a short amount of time.

The city had been attacked four times in the past month, and this was the fifth time. Slowly but surely everyone was getting more and more tired, and they knew they couldn't keep this up for much longer.

The sky rumbled and began to darken. Miria looked up, then leaped out of the way as fast as she could, yelling as she did:

"Look out!"

The other warriors dodged just in time as a lightning bolt struck the ground where they had been standing. What made it worse was that some of these things could bring fire and lightning from the sky at their will! And with each attack more came then before and they were getting stronger.

Miria landed on top of a roof and looked at the situation. Clare was currently fighting in an alleyway, using the Quicksword to cut her opponents to pieces before they could get near her, Helen and Deneve were fighting together out in the open, Deneve slashing her opponents up while guarding Helen's back while Helen stretched her arm out and cut down the ones using the bow and arrows, Cynthia and Yuma were taking care of Tabitha who had almost been killed by a group of the creatures who wielded large axes, Galatea, Clarice and Miata were fighting together off near the Cathedral, and the city guard were doing all they could to keep the monsters at bay.

And then Miria looked out towards the city gates and saw more coming. Thinking quickly, she jumped down and made her way to where everyone was.

"Fall back to the Cathedral! We can't take them all on out here in the open!"

They all nodded and Galk ordered his men to fall back. The warriors all guarded the backs of the men who ran to the Cathedral, ensuring that none of them were cut down from behind.

They all got to the Cathedral and Miria stationed the other warriors in some places where they'd be the most useful. However as she presented the face of determination on the outside on the inside her thoughts were in turmoil.

_We can't take them all on anymore! There's too many and they keep coming! We're not going to be able to defeat them all! We need help!  
><em>

* * *

><p>Heath's face was grim as he circled the large city below him. It was covered in Morphs and there looked to be no end to them. He could see the Guardsmen desperately fighting to keep the Morphs at bay and at the Cathedral he could see a group of women in black fighting as well.<p>

A closer look shocked Heath.

_Claymores! Seven of them, and they're losing the battle! I've got to go report this to Lord Eliwood! We have to help the city!_

With that Heath turned Hyperion around and they sped towards the camp the Army made out in the fields. Upon landing, Heath leaped off Hyperion and took off towards Mark's tent where the three lords would be.

He burst in, not bothering with formalities, which made all three lords jump.

"Lords Eliwood, Hector and Lady Lyndis! There is a large city just north of our direction that is under attack by an army of Morphs!"

"Are you serious?" Hector said jumping up in surprise.

Heath nodded.

"The city guardsmen are trying with all their might to hold them off but they're losing quickly!"

Lyn immediately turned to Eliwood.

"We have to help them!"

Eliwood quickly nodded. There was no way he could just stand by as a city was destroyed by Nergal! Turning to Mark, he spoke:

"Mark, do you have a plan?"

Mark smiled and nodded, and then turned to Heath.

"Heath, I need you to round up Vaida and take to the air once more. I need a complete and full layout of the entire city, all the buildings in it, everything that can help us!"

Heath started to leave when he stopped. He knew the layout of the city already, not because he had flown over it, but because he had been there.

Closing his eyes, Heath sighed at what he was about to do then turned around.

"There's no need. I already know all about the city."

All four of them looked up at Heath in confusion, and Hector spoke:

"Heath, I know you were scouting, but one pass over the city isn't enough. We need-"

"No, that's not what I'm talking about. I know about the city because I've _been _there before."

This caused them all to stare at him, but Heath knew they didn't have much time.

"Forgive my frankness and rudeness my Lords and Lady, but there is no time for me to explain. Please, let us leave it at I've been to the city once long ago and I know the full layout."

They looked at him for a minute and Mark nodded.

"Alright I'll believe you. No Heath, you don't need to explain anything, and you don't need to tell me the layout. We'll make do with what we have. For now however we need you to lead the way to the city and once we get there, I'll get to work. We'll all get to work."

Heath nodded and left the tent, the three lords behind him. Soon they got the whole Army ready after explaining and Heath took to the air and flew in the direction of Rabona, making sure to circle around every few times so the Army didn't lose him.

Soon, they made it to Rabona, and Mark went straight into action.

"Heath, Vaida, Fiora, Farina, Florina! I need you five to fly around the city into the back and get to that Cathedral and let them know what's going on if you can! Louise, Will, Rebecca, you three will go with them. Once you get to the Cathedral, find some spots where you can safely shoot your arrows at the Morphs! Wallace, Oswin! You two are going to have to act as living shields and help us break our way through, so I need you two in front!"

Those who's names were called nodded and went to their respective posts. Rebecca and Louise went and rode with Florina and Fiora while Will hopped on Hyperion with Heath. Soon all five took off into the sky and flew around the city, making sure that they were not spotted.

As they made their way to the Cathedral, Heath's heart stopped. There, fighting alongside another Claymore was his older sister, the one he hadn't seen in many many years: _Miria!_

* * *

><p>Miria and Clare were both panting heavily. They had been slicing any enemy that got near them and they still kept coming! There was just no end to them and both were at their limits.<p>

Suddenly more came, these ones on horses. As Miria and Clare braced themselves, arrows suddenly rained down on the charging enemy, killing them. Miria and Clare looked up in time to see three people, a woman, and a young man and girl jump down next to them. The woman glanced at Miria.

"My name is Louise. We're here to help you and this city. Our army is right at the gates getting ready to assault the enemy from behind. It would please us if you fell back all the way to the Cathedral so you do not get caught in the crossfire."

Miria tensed, not sure if she should believe the woman or not. The woman suddenly smiled gently.

"It is ok. We are friends."

With that the woman and the other two jumped up on the rooftops of the buildings and began shooting the enemies that were coming. Miria and Clare glanced at each other then took off for the Cathedral.

_Who are they? Where did they come from and why are they helping us?_

These thoughts ran through Miria's mind as she looked back to see the three strangers going from rooftop to rooftop, keeping away from the enemy but still shooting at them.

As Miria and Clare made it to the others and explained what the woman said, there was a sudden roar from near the city gates. Suddenly the sound of fighting intensified and they saw a sudden surge of warriors charge forward. But combat wasn't the only thing that could be heard, as voices drifted up as well.

"BWAHAHAHAHA! Come, break your swords on my armor! Fall before the might of Caelin! Hey, where you running off to cur?"

"For Lord Eliwood! For Pherae! Charge!"

"For Ostia! Fall before my lance!"

"Taste the power of Bern's Wyvern Riders and die! HEY GET BACK HERE! I'M NOT DONE KILLING YOU YET!"

And then the Ghosts of Pieta saw one of the strangest sights ever, and suddenly Miria's blood went cold. There, leading an army forward, were four people. Three men and a woman. One of the men was holding up a sword far larger then any claymore used by a warrior from the Organization, one was wielding a massive Axe, big enough to cut through an Awakened Being's hide, while the other man was dressed in a simple green robe, easily keeping up with the other two. The woman was wielding a katana which she used to slice through her foes with ease.

Behind them they saw warriors of all type fighting. Two large men in armor rammed through a group, using their massive lances to spear their opponents, killing them with one blow, their armor shielding their fellows from being attacked. A young man with purple hair and matching eyes was bringing down lightning upon the enemy.

They saw a group of five, four men and a woman, on horses racing through the enemy killing them with an array of weapons. They saw one man dressed in blue, wielding a blood red Katana, and he was killing anything and everything around him. So fast was he that even Miria, who was the fastest warrior of the Organization, could barely keep up with him, and his opponents were in pieces before they knew what had happened.

_W-Who are these people?_

A roar from the sky caused Miria and the others to look up, and they saw two people on what looked like Dragons but much smaller dive to the ground, their spears at the ready. They swooped in low and took the heads off a row of swordsman who were charging the warriors.

Suddenly the enemy was upon Miria and the others and they were forced back into the battle. Everything seemed surreal to Miria as she killed the man in front of her and turned around, watching the slaughter of the enemy that had invaded Rabona.

Suddenly a warrior charged at her, and Miria swung her claymore up to block his attack. The man then quickly moved his blade downward and stabbed Miria's stomach. Blood flew from her mouth and she fell to her knees.

The man's emotionless face looked at her, and he spoke:

"This is a message from Lord Nergal: 'You should have listened to me the first time I came here.' Now you die."

The man's sword flew towards Miria's head before she could react. Her eyes widened as the blade tip reached for her eye, when suddenly it was jerked away. She blinked and looked up in time to see a man standing there, a silver lance in his hand.

Miria blinked. The man looked familiar for some reason, but she couldn't tell why. His hair was spiked and was mostly green, though some of it had a silver color to it. He stood there for a minute, lifting the lance higher, causing the man to slide down it. Then he flicked it to the left and the man's corpse flew off.

He turned around and Miria's eyes widened again. The man's eyes were Silver like a Claymore's! He reached a hand towards her and smiled.

"Are you ok?"

Miria blinked then slowly stood up, almost falling over as the wound spurted blood.

_Dangit. I used up too much Yoki already in this fight just to stay alive. I can't heal my wound._

"Relax. You're ok now. Just concentrate on staying alive and fall back. We have it from here."

She looked at the young man and he smiled, then ran off, whistling and yelling "Hyperion!". One of the mini-dragons she had seen earlier flew down towards him and he reached a hand up and grabbed one of it's forelegs and swung himself onto it's back.

"Miria!"

Miria turned around to see Clare, Helen and Deneve running towards her. She stood up only to fall to her knees again and Clare and Deneve caught her.

"I can't regenerate my wound. It's too deep and I used too much Yoki already in this battle."

They nodded and helped her get to the Cathedral when suddenly a scream tore through the air. One that stopped Miria cold and made her blood turn to ice.

**"HEATH!"**

* * *

><p>Heath's blood was burning as he slashed every Morph in front of him with the Silver Blade. His Silver Lance had broken in a Morph Paladin's body so he had left it there and took out his Silver Blade.<p>

_How dare they. How **Dare **they hurt Miria!_

Heath's rage kept building as the scene kept replaying over and over in his head: Miria tried trying to block the Morph Swordmaster's Killing Edge. Her face as the Morph stabbed her in the gut, wrenching the blade out.

Heath began hacking his opponents apart when suddenly a Killer Lance pierced his chest. He spat blood and stared in shock at the thing protruding from his chest. He then slowly looked up and saw a Morph General holding it. Slowly, the Silver Blade slipped from his fingers as the Morph lifted the Killer Lance upwards, showing off his prize.

More blood flew out of Heath's mouth as the General suddenly jerked the Killer Lance back then forward, causing Heath to slide down it a few inches. His vision grew dark and he thought he heard someone scream his name. One final thought drifted though his before everything went dark.

_Miria._

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>_I like this chapter the most because the two groups finally get to meet. The only problem with writing this is how they would all react to seeing Eliwood's Army come charging through, killing anything in front of them._

_lol I'm so proud of how I wrote Wallace and Vaida's lines! Gotta love those two battle-happy people! Next chapter will hopefully be out soon!_

_Until then keep Reviewing! You make me happy when you do!_


	7. Chapter Six: Aftermath

**Chapter Six: _Aftermath  
><em>**

* * *

><p>Everything was so slow it seemed unreal. Miria watched as the large creature raised up it's massive spiked spear into the air, showing off it's prize, the young man who had helped her earlier slowly sliding down it a few inches.<p>

_Heath. _

That is what she had heard screamed. But it couldn't be. It just couldn't.

_It can't be Heath, it just can't. He's probably dead! But, his age, his hair color._

"Miria!"

Miria was jerked painfully back to reality at Clare's shout. The wound in her stomach opened even more, and blood poured out, causing Miria to cough blood. Suddenly a loud primal sounding yell rang out, and the large creature who stabbed the young man suddenly erupted in a fountain of blood, spraying those nearby mercilessly.

Standing behind where it had been was a woman with short blond hair. There was a scar on her left eye and she held a wicked looking red spear. She ruthlessly ripped the spear out of the creature, then stabbed it once more, this time in the head and ripped it out.

She then ran over to it's spear which was on the ground and yanked the man off of it.

"Dangit Heath! I told you not to have your head in your rear during a fight! If you die you will have shamed Vaida's Raiders and I will **not **allow that! Do you hear me!"

She picked him up and draped him over her shoulders then started making her way to Miria and the others.

"You there! Does this Cathedral have priests in it?"

Miria only nodded as the woman hurried past her. Clare and Deneve turned her around and went in the same direction. Suddenly they heard the sound of running and turned around to see a group of the enemy charging at them.

Helen gritted her teeth and stood before Miria Clare and Deneve and prepared to take them on, ignoring the others' shouts. Right as the group got closer, a young man in a dark blue trench coat jumped off of a nearby building and landed right on front of Helen.

He turned around and _kicked _Helen away then turned back to the group. He drew a large regal looking sword and pulled a shield off of his back.

"Get back to the Cathedral and tend to your wounded. Now."

The man's voice was cold and hard, just like his face. He then jumped at the group of enemies and began killing them, blocking any attacks with his shield.

As they got ready to go, Miria noticed something odd about Clare.

"Clare, what is it?"

Clare blinked then shook her head and helped Deneve get Miria away to safety.

_That man. Why does he look familiar and why do I recognize some of his fighting?_

* * *

><p>Raven gritted his teeth as the last Morph, a Cavalier, charged him. The Morph thrust it's spear at Raven's head but Raven blocked it with his shield, smashing the tip with his sword then cutting the Morph's hand that was holding the spear off.<p>

He then threw his shield in the air, jumped after it, grabbed his sword from the shield, and plunged downward, cutting the Morph and it's horse clean in half. He stood up flicked his Regal Blade, causing the blood to fly off.

He looked around and regarded the battle. There were only a few Morphs left alive, and they were quickly being dealt with. Once again Mark's tactics had worked.

"Lord Raymond!"

Raven turned around to see Lucius running towards him. He regarded the Monk coldly.

"Lucius I told you not to call me that anymore. I am Raven now. Raymond is dead and gone and he is not coming back."

Lucius sighed then just nodded his head. Raven turned around and saw the rest of the Army done with finishing off the Morphs. His eyes narrowed as he saw Hector of Ostia walking towards their general direction with Eliwood, Lyn and Mark.

"Let's go Lucius."

Lucius looked up to see Raven walking away and quickly followed him. As he did, he saw the three lords with Mark.

_I see now why he wanted to go._

Lucius shook his head sadly and continued to pray for his friend.

* * *

><p>Miria and the others watched as the strangers made their way to the Cathedral warily. They didn't know what their purpose was in helping them, or why they were there in the first place.<p>

"There you go Miria."

Miria turned to Cynthia and thanked her, then stood up. The wound was closed up perfectly. She turned and walked to the stairs leading down and the others followed her. Tabitha had her wounds taken care of and was now joining them.

As they walked to the hall, they saw the woman from earlier making her way there as well. She held herself high and glared at the group as they both drew near each other as they headed in the same direction.

Cynthia smiled at the woman and decided to try to strike up a conversation with her. After all, she was part of the small army that had helped them.

"Um, Hello. How is your friend doing?"

The result however was not what any of them were expecting, and they were all taken quite aback by it. The woman rounded on Cynthia, her eyes blazing in anger.

"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS WORM BAIT!"

The woman then spun around and walked off quicker then before, leaving a downcast Cynthia and a very confused group.

"Whoa, what's up with her?" Helen asked staring after the woman as she left the building.

"She's probably just worried for her friend."

Cynthia said, a small smile returning to her face. Miria's thoughts immediately turned to the wounded man.

_I-if it truly **is **Heath, then his age fits with how old he would have been today. And his hair color. I can't just believe that is just a coincidence._ _And his eyes._

Miria stopped thinking of the man when she looked up and saw the group of four who had led the army to their aid. The young man with red hair smiled and walked up to them.

"Hello. My name is Eliwood of Pherae and these are my friends Lyndis, Hector and Mark. Are you all ok?"

The Warriors were taken a bit by surprise. They certainly didn't expect anyone from the army to ask how they were doing let alone help them, and here was this man who was being polite!

"T-thank you. Your assistance was greatly appreciated. I don't think we could have held on much longer if you hadn't shown up."

"My name is Miria. These are my comrades Clare, Helen, Deneve, Tabitha, Cynthia and Yuma."

The other warriors nodded. The big man, the one called Hector, stepped forward to stand by his friend.

"Why were those Morphs attacking this city?"

Miria and the others looked at each other in confusion.

"Morphs?"

Hector raised an eyebrow at this, then looked at Eliwood then back at the warriors.

"You mean you don't know what Morphs are? You were just fighting them! How could you not know what they are? They're certainly ugly enough for anyone to remember them!"

Miria's eyes narrowed at this.

_So, they weren't human after all. And judging by what that one said, then that man, Nergal, was the one sending them._

"No, sorry we don't know of them."

"Huh? You don't? That's strange."

The man called Eliwood shushed his friend and turned to Miria.

"Well, be that as it is I'm glad we were able to be of some help. We should be going now. We don't want to be a burden to anyone."

They turned and started to leave when Miria suddenly called out to them.

"Wait! You're not from here are you?"

Hector winced as they all turned around.

"Ouch. Is it that obvious?"

Eliwood smiled and shook his head.

"No, we're not. We came here on a ship recently and we've been traveling the land. A scout of ours saw that this city was under attack and notified us and we came here."

"Speaking of which, where is Heath anyway? I haven't seen him since he led us here, and I still want to know how he's been here before even though this is our first time here."

Upon hearing what Hector said, Miria's blood froze over. Her legs suddenly couldn't support her and she crashed to her knees, her eyes wide. She didn't even hear her comrades cry out or try to help her up.

_He's been here before, his name is Heath, his eyes are silver and his hair color is green. I-it **is **him. It's my brother!_

Suddenly Miria did something none of her comrades have ever seen her do before: She broke down. They all stepped back, startled. Miria **always **kept her composure no matter what!

A closer look however revealed that she was smiling as well. No one knew what to do. Suddenly she stopped, wiped her eyes, stood up and regained her composure and looked at Eliwood.

"Forgive me. I'm normally much more composed then that, and I couldn't help myself this time. That man you're talking, Heath, he was wounded in the last battle. He is currently upstairs in a room recovering."

"What! Why didn't anyone tell us this earlier? I'll go and call Serra right away!"

Before anyone could move, Hector ran off. He was surprisingly fast for a human in all that armor. Miria and the others turned to Eliwood who shrugged.

"Sorry about him. When he gets an idea in his head, he charges forth without a second thought. However, seeing as Heath is wounded, I think that we should explain why we are here, and more importantly, what those things were that attacked this city."

Miria nodded, then gestured for them to follow her.

"Agreed, but before that I wish to show you something. Please follow me if you would."

* * *

><p><em>Uggh, what happened? All I remember is seeing Miria<em> _get stabbed,_ _then killing that Morph, then going into battle. I was fighting when Hyperion was shot down by a Sniper, and my Silver Lance broke in that Paladin Morph's body. Then there was that General and..._

With a start Heath jolted awake and looked around wildly. He soon realized that he was in a room, and it was dark. Looking down at his chest, Heath saw that he was wrapped in bandages, although they were bloodstained.

_So, someone must have grabbed me while I was unconscious. Commander Vaida maybe? Either way, I'm alive and in what looks like one the Cathedral's_ _rooms. I wonder where everyone is?_

Groaning, Heath swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Looking around, he found his shirt and put it on.

_Wonder who dressed my bandages? Whoever it was, I'm surprised they didn't gag at my body. Oh well, they must have thought it was a horrendous battle scar. After all, Commander Vaida saw it and didn't blanch at it._

Making his way to the door, Heath went to open it when he suddenly stopped. Slowly, he took his hand away from the doorknob and turned around. The room was still dark and he couldn't see much, but he didn't need to.

"Who's there?"

Silence.

"I know you're there. There's no use in hiding now. If you're smart, you'll show yourself now and save your the trouble of me finding you. Trust me, you won't be in one piece if I do."

"Remarkable. Even though your Yoki is incredibly small and you're not a true Warrior, you can still sense me, even with me hiding my Yoki Aura. No, I wouldn't call it sensing exactly. More like you're aware of my presence, but can't sense me. Tell me, how do you do it?"

Stepping out of a dark corner of the room was a Nun. Her eyes were scarred and blind, and yet she walked as though she could still see. Her hair was long and silver, and Heath recognized at once, even if it had been many years.

"You, you're the number three of the Organization aren't you? God-Eye Galatea right?"

Galatea stopped in surprise, then smiled.

"Oh? You recognize me? Even though it's been many years, and you only saw me once and only heard of me from your sister? You've got an amazing memory boy. Yes, I am Galatea. However I am no longer with the Organization. I now serve the Church as a Nun."

Heath looked at her. Of course he remembered her. He almost never forgot anything in his life.

"So, what are you doing here? I'm surprised you recognize me."

Galatea smiled.

"I always knew Miria had a younger brother. I saw you once, before the day you got sick. You were full of energy and would always follow Miria around when she was at the Organization. You even tried copying her moves. Then, that day that you were sick, after they put the flesh and blood of a Yoma in you, I felt your Yoki."

"I was the one who said it was so small that the Organization wouldn't have any use for you. I'd recognize it anywhere. It hasn't changed, in all these years."

Heath looked at her, and shook his head.

"I see. I guess I shouldn't have expected any less of you. Well, to tell you how I knew you were there, I just got this feeling I was being watched. That's all."

Heath then looked around.

"So, I'm in Rabona's Cathedral am I right? I saw seven warriors fighting, Miria among them. Are they here? Does...Miria recognize me?"

Galatea looked in his direction and smiled.

"No, not at first she didn't. I admit that if it weren't for your Yoki Aura I wouldn't have recognized you either. However, she now knows that it is you. One of the men who were with you, the big blue haired one, said your name and said that you had been here before, even though this was the first time your little army had been here."

"I see."

Heath stood there for a minute, thinking. Finally he turned to the door and opened it.

"Where is she?"

* * *

><p>Heath slowly walked up the stairs that led to the Cathedral balcony. He was taking his time, taking each step slowly as he gathered up his thoughts.<p>

_It's been so long. I wonder what I should say? "Hey Sis! Remember me?" No, that's not the right thing to say, especially after being apart for so long. Should I even say anything at all? She might be expecting me to though. What should I do?_

Finally Heath made it to the door. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened it. There, standing with her back to him looking out at the city, was Miria.

He stopped and looked at her. Even with her back to him, he could see that she hadn't changed in all these years. The only thing different was that she was no longer in the armor that all warriors of the Organization wore.

"What is it Clare?"

Miria spoke suddenly, startling Heath. He smiled when he realized that Miria didn't know it was him standing there. He walked forward, closing the door behind him.

"Well, I don't know who Clare is, but I do know that isn't my name."

His smile got bigger as Miria jumped, then slowly turned around, her eyes wide.

"Hello Miria."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>_Man this chapter was **such **a pain to write! I rewrote the thing three different times and rethought it five different times. Nothing I wrote was satisfying for me. Nothing looked good or sounded good and I couldn't get the right one I wanted._

_Finally I settled with this current version and I must say, I think it's a lot better then the previous versions I wrote. A few things first before I end it here. Raven still has a grudge against Ostia and Hector. I haven't changed that. I think it makes him cooler that way. _

_Also, Serra was only able to partially heal Heath. If it was in the game, the General would have used a critical attack on Heath leaving him at 1 HP and Serra only used a Heal Staff._

_Sorry if Miria seemed a little OOC in this chapter. But hey, not even Miria would be all calm and composed if she had just found out that her younger brother, who she thought dead for so long, was actually alive and she had just seen him almost get killed by some creature that looked like a human with a spear longer then two people standing on top of each other. That's my excuse lol._

_Well I hope I managed to satisfy all of you with this chapter. Please Read and Review. Seriously, when you do it helps me bring these chapters out faster._


	8. Chapter Seven: Calm before the Storm

**Chapter Seven: _Calm before the Storm  
><em>**

**Author's Note: _SPOILERS for Claymore! If you haven't gotten far in Claymore, go to Manga Scans and read the full Manga before continuing!__  
><em>**

* * *

><p>Nergal smirked as he worked his dark magic. If he couldn't turn the Ghosts of Pieta to his side, he'd just replace them with his own Seven warriors of his choice.<p>

He had worked hard to gather what had remained of all the bodies and was currently resurrecting them, using Quintessence to fill the void where their lives had been.

"Perfect. Soon, very soon, I'll have my own warriors to gather Quintessence for me. Then, then I'll continue my work from where I left off! But this time I shall choose a different target! I shall claim the Quintessence of the Awakened Being Priscilla! And then I shall move ever closer to **perfection**!"

Cackling, Nergal stepped back to review his work. Seven Warriors who he knew would have an impact on the Ghosts of Pieta. Once he filled their bodies with Yoki and Quintessence, he would set them loose on this island!

Turning away from them, Nergal walked out of the room, then into the hallway. He turned and walked to what seemed to be a dead end and blasted the wall apart.

He walked down the stairway and into a dimly lit room where he kept his most prized possession. Before he had arrived, two great beings had been down here, kept alive for the Organization's experiments.

When Nergal discovered the room, he disposed of both beings quickly, draining their Quintessence, then set the lab back up. Now the room held something even more powerful.

He regarded the Warrior's body, smirking. Oh, how easy it had been to put this one back together. Not much was missing from Her when he started his work.

It had been a very simple matter, finding what was missing from Her body, putting Her back together, and now he simply needed an enormous amount of Yoki and Quintessence to bring Her back.

Nergal's eyes widened and he threw his head back and laughed, laughing until it rose into a shriek, one that was filled with Insanity.

Oh the chaos he would bring to this island with this Warrior! And it would be glorious indeed!

* * *

><p>Mark, Eliwood, Hector and Lyn were gathered in a room together, pouring over maps of the island, wondering what the best approach to attack Nergal might be.<p>

The Warrior called Deneve had spent some time talking to them about the Organization's headquarters, where it was located and how one might get there. However Mark figured that Nergal would have already resurrected the Warriors he had killed, and were using them to guard the Headquarters.

They'd already seen firsthand that he had already started on recreating his Morphs. To march straight up to the front gates would be suicide!

"I say we march right up to the front gates, killing anything in our way!"

Mark groaned, putting his hand to his face. Of course Hector would want to do just that. Lyn patted his shoulder, then turned to Hector.

"Are you stupid or something? Of _course _we can't do that! Nergal would be expecting an assault like that, seeing as that's what we did the first, and last, time!"

Hector glowered at Lyn.

"Bah, I thought you might say that. Look, we're more experienced now, and we have those Warriors on our side! Nergal couldn't possibly stand under our assault! Leave it to you Lyn to want to sneak around."

"And **what **do you mean by that, exactly?"

"You know full well what I mean! You don't want to fight Nergal again, admit it!"

"Of _**course** _I don't want to fight Nergal again! Look at all the horrors he committed last time!"

"Just admit you're afraid Lyn! I know you are!"

"**_WHAT_ DID YOU JUST SAY?**"

This time it was Eliwood's turn to groan, smacking his face with his hand. Mark had his head on the table, his hands in his hair, trying hard to ignore the shouting match that had sprung up between Lyn and Hector.

"Peace you two! I don't believe Nergal doesn't know of our presence on the island just yet, but if he doesn't, that gives us a slight advantage! Now please-"

"**YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!**" Both Lords shouted at Eliwood, who sighed and walked away.

_Hopefully Heath is having an easier time of it, talking to his Sister..._

Eliwood walked into the Chapel Hall, hoping to find some peace and quiet. He stopped before one of the glass windows, the one that showed his army leaving the Dragon's Gate, and Nergal.

_How did this get here? How could anyone know about us from this island? Just what in Elimine's name is going on here?  
><em>

Suddenly, Eliwood heard footsteps behind him and the rustling of a dress. He turned around to see Ninian walking towards him, and he held out an arm which she took.

"Are you alright Lord Eliwood?"

Eliwood smiled, and patted his wife's arm gently.

"Yeah, I am. I just was thinking about how strange this is. I've never heard of anything like this ever, so it's pretty hard to take in."

Ninian smiled and held her husband's hand, then looked up at the glass window. It was quiet for a while until Eliwood spoke up again:

"I wonder how Heath is doing, talking to Miria. I never would have guessed that he had a sister, much less it be Miria. That just shows how little we know of a lot of our comrades."

Ninian smiled.

"I'm sure he's doing just fine."

* * *

><p>Helen, Cynthia, Tabitha and Uma were walking down the halls of the cathedral when they heard shouting coming from a nearby room.<p>

Curious, they all crept closer to the door, and could make out words.

**"HECTOR, STRENGTH ALONE WILL NOT DEFEAT NERGAL!"**

**"WE WON BY USING OUR STRENGTH LAST TIME DIDN'T WE?"  
><strong>

**"NO, WE WON DUE TO TEAMWORK AND MARK'S BRILLIANT PLANNING!"  
><strong>

**"BAH, MARK THIS AND MARK THAT! LYN I THINK YOU'RE JUST AFRAID TO FIGHT NERGAL ONCE AGAIN! AFTER ALL YOU WEREN'T THE ONE WHO DEALT THE KILLING BLOW TO HIM!"  
><strong>

**"_THAT'S IT!_ HECTOR, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL HERE AND NOW!"  
><strong>

**"FINE WITH ME! _HAVE AT YOU!_"  
><strong>

Suddenly the sound of combat could be heard inside the room, and they backed away, Helen smirking.

"Guess they don't get along very well do they?

The Warriors all murmured agreement, and started to walk away.

"No, they get along pretty well actually. It's just that Hector and Lyndis have...different points of view at times."

They stopped, then turned to see the man called Eliwood and his wife, Ninian, come walking up the stairs. Eliwood smiled as he heard the commotion inside the room.

"Mark's going to be furious if they knock down that table with his maps on it."

Ninian giggled at the image that appeared in her head.

"Yeah. He would definitely make them stop fighting wouldn't he?"

Eliwood chuckled at the thought, then turned to the Warriors.

"If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to speak with your leader, Miria about a few things. It concerns what we might do before leaving the city to go after Nergal."

Helen looked at her fellow Warriors, before nodding.

"This way."

* * *

><p>Outside the cathedral, Clare was taking a walk, looking for someone. She had spotted the man after the battle, walking away from the others so she decided to follow him.<p>

There was something on her mind she had to ask him, a question that had been burned into her mind after she saw how he fought.

As it got dark, she felt as though she wouldn't find him, so she decided to head back when she suddenly heard something. It sounded like a sword being swung at incredibly high speeds.

Following the noise, she came to a small clearing where she found the man she was looking for. He stood there, his back to her, his blood red sword a blur in the air, so fast Clare could barely follow it.

After a while of watching the man swing, Clare stepped forward, into the light. The man stopped swinging and turned to look at her, his golden eyes glittering.

"That technique you were just using, how did you learn it?"

The man stared at her, not saying a word for a while, just watching Clare. She begin to grow impatient when he suddenly spoke.

"...Interesting. That right arm you have, it's not yours is it?"

Clare started, surprised. This man knew that her right arm wasn't hers?

The man smiled eerily, his eyes glittering even more.

"Yes, I know that arm. I would never forget a warrior as strong as she was."

Clare stepped back, drawing her sword in the process.

"How do you know about that?"

Karel smirked.

"You wanted to know how I can use the Quicksword did you not? Hmmm...You are indeed strong. Stronger then her..."

"Very well, I shall tell you how I can use the Quicksword, the same technique you also use."

Clare's eyes widened, as the man sheathed his sword.

"I taught it to Ilena, the same woman who taught it to you."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>_First of all, I am **VERY **sorry that it took me this long to update and bring this chapter out! I have had the worst case of Writer's Block I've ever had, which is only one of many reasons why this took so long._

_I shall try my very hardest to be faster next time in bringing out the next chapter!  
><em>

_Please Read and Review this chapter! I seriously need the reviews. They keep me going, the truly do! Also, if you've got an idea, don't hesitate to review just to give me it!_


	9. Chapter Eight: Reason to fight

**Chapter Eight: _Reason to fight.__  
><em>**

* * *

><p>Clare stepped back, shocked. It was impossible, it was just impossible. This man could <em>not <em>have trained Ilena! Gripping her sword tightly, Clare glared at the man in front of her.

"What are you?

The man smirked at her, pleased at her reaction.

"Good question. Instead of asking who I am, you ask what I am."

"I am Karel."

Clare stared at Karel, unsure what to do. Part of her wanted to rush in and attack the man, though she wasn't sure why she wanted to. The other part wanted to bombard him with questions, about himself, about Ilena and about the Organization.

But even as she contemplated her choices, one question burned into her mind above all else, one that was more important then the others.

Sheathing her sword, Clare looked Karel straight in the eyes.

"Please teach me more about the Quicksword, as you taught Ilena!"

Karel raised an eyebrow when he heard this, and regarded the woman in front of him. She surely had Ilena's right arm, but there was someone else she reminded him of. Someone from that distant past, where he was a man who no longer existed.

Suddenly an image came to his mind: A Warrior, strong and proud, as cold as he was now, a faint smile on her lips. The Organization's most powerful Warrior. The one who once defeated even him.

Teresa.

Karel smiled, a real one, not one of the bloodthirsty ones he was well known for, making Clare even more uneasy. The smile made him look almost Human. _Almost._

"You...Yes, you are indeed strong. I can see it now, feel it. You have her flesh and blood in you, not that of a Yoma. I'm surprised I didn't recognize it sooner."

Clare's eyes widened upon hearing this, and she almost stumbled back.

"Y-you knew..._Teresa_?"

Karel nodded.

"She was what people would call a friend to me. She was strong, stronger then anything I'd ever seen. Her swordsmanship was truly beautiful, her form perfect. Only she was able to defeat me in a battle."

"Very well, I shall teach you the true power of the Quicksword, if only to see you stronger. You will become a powerful Warrior. I shall await that time with much anticipation."

"Be prepared, for I teach in battle, not with instruction."

Clare nodded, her resolve firm and unbending. She gripped her sword and drew it, getting ready for Karel to attack. Karel drew his Wo Dao and stood there, it held down at his side.

Suddenly, he was right in front of Clare's face.

* * *

><p>Heath regarded the scene in front of him with much amusement. Lords Eliwood and Hector, Lady Lyndis and Mark were standing in front of Miria, talking.<p>

Hector and Lyn looked terrible, Hector's armor chipped, with scratches on his arms, legs and cheeks. Lyn's clothing was torn in several different places, some places more revealing then others. She kept shooting Hector dark glares, which he would return.

Apparently they had been fighting and knocked over Mark's table with all his maps on it, and it seemed Hector trampled on quite a few.

If what Heath heard was true, Mark had flown into a rage, picking up a chair and attacking Hector with it, repeatedly bashing him in the head with it. Later Lyn had also faced Mark's wrath, but in the form of a sever scolding that she shouldn't be so quick to get in a fight with Hector.

Miria looked at Eliwood as he told her about the Army's choice.

"So, you intend to go directly to the Organization's Headquarters and fight Nergal?" She asked him. He smiled and nodded.

"That's pretty much it. We've fought him before, and we'll end up doing it again. My only concern is if he attacks this city again-"

Heath's thoughts drifted off and he found himself recalling the meeting between him and Miria.

* * *

><p><em>Heath slowly walked up the stairs that led to the Cathedral balcony. He was taking his time, taking each step slowly as he gathered up his thoughts.<em>

_It's been so long. I wonder what I should say? "Hey Sis! Remember me?" No, that's not the right thing to say, especially after being apart for so long. Should I even say anything at all? She might be expecting me to though. What should I do?_

_Finally Heath made it to the door. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened it. There, standing with her back to him looking out at the city, was Miria._

_He stopped and looked at her. Even with her back to him, he could see that she hadn't changed in all these years. The only thing different was that she was no longer in the armor that all warriors of the Organization wore._

_"What is it Clare?"_

_Miria spoke suddenly, startling Heath. He smiled when he realized that Miria didn't know it was him standing there. He walked forward, closing the door behind him._

_"Well, I don't know who Clare is, but I do know that isn't my name."_

_His smile got bigger as Miria jumped, then slowly turned around, her eyes wide._

_"Hello Miria."_

_Miria stared at Heath for a long time, taking a good look at him. Now that she knew it was her brother, she could definitely see the resemblance._

_Heath smiled at her, and gave a short laugh.  
><em>

_"It's been a while, hasn't it?"  
><em>

_Miria blinked, then rushed forward and hugged Heath, almost knocking him down. He winced at the pain in his chest, but stood there and held his sister.  
><em>

_After a while they had sat down, and Miria had told him everything that had happened over the years, including the truth about the Organization. Heath's eyes darkened as he listened to what his sister had been through.  
><em>

_"Well, now that Lord Eliwood and the others are here, after we defeat Nergal maybe we can help take the Organization down."  
><em>

_Miria shook her head. "I can't ask them for their help with the Organization. It feels wrong to get them involved."  
><em>

_Heath smiled. "Well, if it's any comfort to know, if Lords Eliwood and Hector and Lady Lyndis heard all that, they would insist on helping and it'd be neigh impossible to change their minds."  
><em>

_Miria chuckled at that, then looked at Heath. How different her brother was now! He had grown up into a fine man.  
><em>

_"Heath, what about you? What's happened in your life since we were separated?"  
><em>

_"Ah, now that's a long story. Where should I start? Hmm...I suppose it would begin when I first stepped onto that ship-"_

* * *

><p>"Heath. Heeeeath. Heath! Snap out of it. <strong>HEATH<strong>**!**"

_**SLAP!  
><strong>__**  
><strong>_Heath stumbled back, blinking in surprise as he came to his senses. There, standing in front of him, was a very irate Vaida, her hand drawn back to slap him again.

"Oh, Commander Vaida! I-!"

Heath stopped there, blinking. The last time he looked, there hadn't been a sword at Vaida's throat had there? Eliwood, Hector, Lyn and Vaida also seemed surprised, and Vaida froze.

Turning, they saw Miria holding the sword. Her eyes were glittering gold and the anger there was unmistakable.

"Don't you _ever _touch him like that again." She said, her voice low. She drew her sword back and sheathed it. Vaida took a step back, then glared at Miria.

"You have a problem with how I treat my soldier maggot?"

Miria glared at Vaida, then answered her. "No, but I have a problem with how you treat my _brother._"

Vaida blinked.

"Your...brother?" She said, confused. She turned to Heath, and then her eyes widened slightly. Before she could say anything, Eliwood cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Well Miria, as it stands to reason, I'd like to ask if you and your Warriors could stay here with some of our men to protect the city while I take the rest to Staff and defeat Nergal. It'd be safer that way and you'd be able to keep the people here safe."

Miria glowered at Vaida for a minute longer, then turned to Eliwood.

"Very well. I understand that this isn't our battle and that Nergal is something we might not be able to fight ourselves. I'll leave him to you. I pray you'll succeed in defeating him."

Turning she walked off, brushing past Vaida who clenched her fists but said nothing. Once she was gone, Vaida also left, leaving the other five alone.

Eliwood then turned to Heath. "Heath, I'd like you to stay here in the city and recover. You can also help the other Warriors defend this place."

Heath nodded then walked off. At least he'd be able to help his sister out in defending, and maybe even start learning how to wield that Claymore of his.

* * *

><p>Clare leaped out of the way, barely escaping the blade that had sought her head. Karel jumped up after her, his speed remarkable. He was easily keeping up with Clare and Clare was going her fastest!<p>

They had been training for hours, Karel instructing her from the very beginning starting with the basics. Clare could barely read his movements, and was hard pressed into keeping herself in the fight.

The first time he lunged for her, she had been caught completely by surprise. Not only had she not expected him to be that fast, but she hadn't been able to read his Yoki in time to predict his movements.

_It's impossible for me to read his Yoki and dodge fast enough! It's almost as though he's not using any of it! Is it true? Is he truly not using any Yoki at all? I can't even feel anything from him! Just what **is **this man?_

Clare's eyes turned gold and she made all her Yoki flow into her right arm. Her eyes narrowed and she released it in a massive burst. The Quicksword tore apart everything in front of it, and she sped towards Karel.

Karel smirked glad that Clare at least knew how to use it. But her Quicksword was slow, easy to predict and far from Ilena's perfect form.

Deciding to show Clare an example of how things were done properly, Karel too used the Quicksword. Clare's eyes widened as Karel's arm stopped moving, but every one of her blows were deflected.

Karel then struck her several times, all in the arms and legs. His slashes were so fast and neat, that the cuts themselves didn't bleed and Clare didn't even know she was cut until she landed on the ground, and saw her arms.

"Good, you've already mastered the basics, and you know how to draw all your Yoki into your right arm. However, you're not using all of the Yoki that's already in that right arm." Karel said as he landed gracefully in front of her.

Clare blinked in confusion. "All of the Yoki that's already...?" She said slowly.

"Yes. There is much more Yoki in your right arm then you believe. It's sealed away though, buried deep. I'm not surprised that you didn't know about it."

Clare looked at her right arm, Ilena's right arm.

"If that's true, then how do I release that Yoki?" She asked looking up at Karel. His eyes glittered and he gave that smile of his, the one right before he killed.

"You must allow your right arm to completely awaken in order for the Yoki inside it to be released."

Clare gasped, taking a step back. Memories of the battle in Pieta came surfacing, memories of her almost Awakening, of Jean's death.

"No! I can't-! I won't have that happen again!"

Suddenly, Karel's sword was at right in front of her face, it's tip inches from her eye. She froze, for even the smallest movement could be fatal.

Karel stared at her, his eyes narrowed, glowing bright gold.

"Then you will stay weak forever. You will never grow stronger, never be able to achieve what you want, and ultimately your weakness will cause you to _die._"

"Is that want you want? To be weak forever? To die, full of regrets, unable to do that one thing you need to do? Then you are no use to me and I shall not teach you anymore."

Drawing the Wo Dao back, Karel turned and begin to walk away, leaving Clare behind. She slumped to the ground on her knees, staring at nothing.

_"Then you will stay weak forever. You will never grow stronger, never be able to achieve what you want. Is that want you want? To be weak forever? To die, full of regrets, unable to do that one thing you need to do?"_

Clare's eyes begin to glow even brighter as anger coursed throughout her body. Her face begin to distort and her teeth became fangs. Her eyes turned from gold to orange and her Yoki became visible, a bright blue torrent that burst form the ground.

Karel looked back at her, and noted how high her Yoki had become. However he was unimpressed, and Clare knew it. She glared at him, anger burning through her.

"If you do not wish to be weak, and yet you do not wish to become stronger, then what purpose do you serve in life? What is your reason for living? Why do you fight? What is your reason for taking up the Sword, and becoming a Warrior?"

Clare stood up slowly, hate smoldering in her eyes.

"I...will kill...Priscilla! My purpose in life...is to...avenge...Teresa!"

Karel stared at her, then smirked.

"Is that so? Then shouldn't you worry more about _not _being able to avenge her then awakening one arm? If you are weak then you will die."

_**"I AM NOT WEAK!"**_

Clare's Yoki increased dramatically, and coursed throughout Rabona. Even normal people could sense something powerful and horrifying in the air, and they all hid in their homes.

Karel watched her, then shook his head.

"Are you trying to Awaken or are you just flaunting your Yoki? Your goal is to try to awaken only _one _arm. Focus all your Yoki into your right arm!"

Clare gritted her teeth, and begin to focus hard. Slowly, her Yoki begin to subside throughout her body and into only her right arm. Her arm begin to vibrate violently, like Ophelia's once did.

"Good. Finally, you're starting to learn. Now, don't hold back. Release your Yoki from your arm. Allow it to Awaken completely."

Clare looked at Kare, and realized something. "What if I can't revert it back to normal?" Her eyes widened as her arm begin to vibrate even harder.

"You need not worry. I shall restore it back to normal for you. Now, stop stalling and Awaken your right arm."

Clare narrowed her eyes, then decided. With a scream she released all her Yoki from her right arm, no longer suppressing it. The ground was torn up violently and dust rose up into the air.

It was at this point that the other six Ghosts of Pieta showed up, horrified at what was happening. Turning, Miria saw Karel just standing there, watching the spot where Clare was.

_**"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"** _Helen yelled, lunging for him, ignoring Miria's shouts to stop. Karel looked at Helen out of the corner of his eye, then held up the Wo Dao and blocked Helen's strike at his head, all the while keeping an eye on where Clare would appear, ignoring Helen's and the others' gasps.

Slowly the dust settled and they all got a good look at Clare. Karel smiled.

Clare was normal, but her right arm...that was a different matter entirely. It resembled a huge scythe, long and thin, designed for speed more then power.

It ended in a five foot long curved blade which looked sharp enough to slice through any metal. The other six Warriors gasped in horror, but Karel simply smirked.

"Good job. You Awakened your right arm alone. Now, I will force it to revert back to normal, and when I do, you will have full access to all the Yoki that was hidden deep within it."

Clare looked at him, panting heavily, and nodded. But before Karel could move, he suddenly had six Claymores at his throat.

"Stop!" Clare cried, trying to run forward only to fall to her knees. Awakening her right arm only had taken a lot out of her.

"Clare, what did this man _do _to you?" Helen asked angrily. Karel looked at her, and shook his head hopelessly.

"He did nothing that I chose to do myself." Clare responded, causing the others to look at her. "If I am to become stronger, I need to fully master the Quicksword, and surpass even Illena in it. I can't do that without doing this."

"B-but!" Helen sputtered, at a loss for words. The others couldn't say anything either.

"If you don't allow me to revert her arm back to normal, it will stay that way forever. Is that what you want?" Karel asked softly.

Miria looked at him, then at Clare, and sighed. She pulled her Claymore away from Karel's throat, and motioned for the others to do the same. Karel nodded to her then walked up to Clare and placed a hand on her arm.

He closed his eyes, and suddenly they were all hit with a massive wave of Yoki, one that they hadn't ever felt before. He synchronized his yoki with Clare's and slowly her arm begin to change back to normal.

When it was done, Karel stood up and nodded to Clare. "We will begin again tomorrow. Rest up until then." He then turned and begin walking away, leaving the others to stare at him.

"Wait!" Clare cried. "You asked me what my reason to fight was, why I became a Warrior. I told you that it was to avenge Teresa. But, what about you? What is your reason?"

Karel stopped, and stood there quietly. Finally he turned around, and the others stepped back in shock and Clare's eyes widened as they beheld the bloodlust and insanity in his eyes.

"My sword is my life. My sword is my reason."

With that Karel walked off, leaving the seven staring after him.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>_Yay, not only was I able to write a long chapter again, longer then the last one, but I was able to bring out as fast too! Super special thanks to **Kuroui **for reviewing! That got me fired up to write this chapter and I'm very pleased with how it turned out!_

_There you go **Kuroui**! The reunion scene between Heath and Miria. I think I could've made it more touching, and longer, but I think it turned out nice.  
><em>

_I'll start brainstorming about the next chapter immediately. Until then, please Review and let me know what you think!  
><em>


	10. Chapter Nine: Together we ride!

**Chapter Nine: _Together we ride!__  
><em>**

* * *

><p>Later that night, when everyone was resting, a figure slipped out of a room and quietly walked into the hallway. It looked around, making sure no one saw it or heard it, then it quickly made it's way to the stairs, then up them.<p>

It continued on it's way until it came to a room. It opened the door quietly just a crack and regarded the figure inside. Hector was sprawled across his bed, snoring loudly, unaware of the figure watching him.

The figure closed the door and heaved a deep sigh, then pulled back the cloak around it to reveal a large sword. It drew it then prepared to open the door again, when suddenly a hand dropped onto it's shoulder.

Whirling around, it saw Lucius standing there. Lucius stared at the figure then sighed. "Lord Raymond, what are you doing up so late in the night?"

Scowling, Raven removed the hood of his cloak from his head and glared at Lucius. " Isn't it obvious? What are _you _doing up Lucius?"

Lucius stood his ground and stared at his friend. "I'm here to stop you from making a terrible mistake. Killing Lord Hector will solve _nothing! _Lord Raymond why can you not see that? Are you truly blinded by rage that you cannot see clearly?"

Raven growled and sheathed his sword. "It's none of your business Lucius and you know it! Stop bothering me about it! I will **not** change my mind or how I feel!"

He walked past Lucius, brushing him out of the way as he went. Lucius sighed then looked at his friend's retreating back before following him.

"Lord Raymond, if you kill Lord Hector you will not be avenging your family._ You will be committing murder. Then you will be no different then the ones who killed your family. Is that what you want? To become the thing you hate?"_

Raven had had enough. He turned around in a fury, drew his fist back, and shoved it as hard as he could into Lucius' face. There was a small _crunch _sound as cartilage broke and blood sprayed out as Lucius fell to the floor.

Raven stood there panting heavily until realization dawned on him. He stared in horror at his friend's body then knelt down.

"Lucius! Lucius!" Lucius groaned and sat up, holding his face as blood poured out. The hurt and anguish in Raven's eyes was hard to miss.

"Lucius...I didn't...I mean...I'm-" Lucius shook his head then held up a hand. "I-it's alright Lord Raymond. I forgive you."

Raven helped Lucius up and walked him down the hallway. "I'll get Renault to heal you. Will that help?"  
>Lucius nodded.<p>

As the two walked away, they didn't notice the third person who had been there, watching them all the while. Clare watched as the two men faded into the dark hall, then walked away to her own room.

_Teresa... _She thought as she walked. She had seen and heard everything that was said between the two, and some of it hit home.

_"You will be committing murder. Then you will be no different then the ones who killed your family. Is that what you want? To become the thing you hate?"_

_I'll become the thing I hate...? No, Priscilla's different! She took Teresa away from me! She's a monster! She doesn't deserve to live!  
><em>

* * *

><p>As it got late in the night, Uma woke up suddenly. There was no reason for it, and she couldn't understand why she had awakened in that manner, gasping and leaping out of her bed snatching up her Claymore.<p>

Seeing no one around, she sighed and tried to get back to sleep, but found she was too restless to stay still. The others were still asleep so Uma decided to take a short walk around the Cathedral to ease her mind.

She walked into the Chapel hall and gazed at the huge stained glass window which depicted Eliwood and his army. She sighed as she looked up at the window and her eyes drifted to the image of the man called Mark.

_He doesn't have any weapons or knowledge on how to fight, and yet he's not useless. Not like I am. I wish I could do more to be of some help to the others..._

As she turned to walk away, something caught her eye. It was a cloaked man, who scurried away the minute her eyes fell on it.

"Wait right there!" She cried and ran after it. It ran out of the Cathedral and into the gardens with Uma hot on it's trail.

Suddenly she increased her Yoki and sped past it, stopping right in front of the figure. She reached a hand out and ripped the cloak off it.

Uma gasped and stared into the eyes of a Morph. The creature only blinked once then drew two long wicked looking daggers and before she could swing her Claymore down on it, darted behind her.

It's speed was incredible! Uma turned, swinging her Claymore as fast as she could, but she missed again. The Morph suddenly appeared right in front of her and crouched low until it was looking at her stomach. It then plunged both daggers into her gut and wrenched them upwards, causing her to gasp and spurt out blood onto it's face.

Quickly it withdrew it's daggers, but before she could react it stabbed her in quick rabid blows in her arms, legs and abdomen. Over and over.

Blood sprouted out of Uma's body as she collapsed to the ground, coughing and trying to stand. The Morph raised one booted leg and stomped onto the side of her head, causing her to cry out weakly in pain. It did this four more times before stopping.

"Enough." A soft but dangerous sounding voice commanded from the dark. The Morph immediately withdrew it's attack and stepped back. Uma could barely lift her head up to see Nergal step out from the shadows, smirking at her.

"Y-y-you." She said weakly, quickly losing blood and unable to talk any louder then a whisper. Nergal cackled quietly and walked over to the fallen Claymore's body.

"Perfect. Just what I need. A test subject to draw the Yoki out of for my new creations. Hehe, HAHAHAHA!" Nergal motioned for the Morph to grab Uma who couldn't resist then all three of them teleported away, leaving only bloodied grass in their wake.

* * *

><p>It was morning and Sain was feeling <em>fine! <em>His first initial thought upon helping the city had been to find the nearest Tavern and entertain all the lovely ladies there about his adventures and heroics and about how wonderful they all looked.

However his plans quickly changed when he had realized that there were seven beautiful women who were all warriors were in the Cathedral!

Sain had almost leaped straight up into the air in joy and excitement, but Kent his ever present Boon Companion was there to keep his feet firmly placed on the ground.

Today however he was planning on getting to know some of the lovely ladies! Careful not to wake his friend, who was sleeping on the other side of the room in a chair, since there was only one bed and Kent was _adamant_ on not sharing one, _No I will **NOT **share a bed with you Sain! Don't you **even **think about that!,_ Sain snuck out of the room.

Turning left and right to get his bearings, Sain quickly scampered away with a mad giggle. He weaved through the hallways, making absolutely certain that he didn't run anyone down. That wouldn't do for a Knight like himself!

Soon he came to the orchard where he saw one of the women trying to reach an apple from a tree. Quietly he snuck closer until he could make out words.

"Grr...Come...here! Damn...it! I...want...my...APPLE!" The woman sighed and pressed her head to the tree. "I don't want to stretch my arm to get it, but if I don't do that, I can't get my apple!"

Sain couldn't resist. She was just _too _cute pouting like that! He knelt down and picked up a rock then took careful aim. "Excuse me my lady!" He said loudly, causing the woman to jump up then turn around.

"It appears that you are in a dilemma. May I offer my assistance?" The woman stared at Sain who smiled brilliantly. Finally she sighed.

"Go ahead, knock yourself out." Sain's smile got even bigger though the woman thought it impossible. He took two steps back and aimed at the apple. He then threw the rock as hard as he could.

The rock sailed into the air and hit the stem of the apple, breaking it. The apple then fell off the tree right into the woman's hands. She stared at it in surprise, then back at Sain.

"Your apple, M'lady." Sain said bowing. The woman burst into laughter and Sain's heart jumped. "Wow, that was pretty impressive! How'd you do that?"

"Well," Sain said thinking back. "When I was a young lad, I would always get into trouble and would be punished for that. I was sent to the nearby apple tree and was told that if I could collect five apples from the tree then I could go back inside. Since the tree was huge, there was no way I could ever climb it and I couldn't shake the branches since they were so high. I would stand out there for hours waiting for even a single apple to fall, but since it wasn't the time for them, they stayed up there and I stayed out there until they saw fit to let me back into the house."

"One day I decided I had enough of waiting. So, I looked up at that apple tree and said this: 'Tree, you're giving me your apples whether you like it or not!'. So I picked up a nearby rock and threw it at an apple. It hit the stem and the apple fell to the ground at my feet. With that moment I had a flash of inspiration! I pick up another rock and aimed for the stems of four other apples and hit them, knocking them to the ground. I then walked proudly back into the house with all five apples and even though everyone was surprised that they fell, none of them knew what I had done!"

"So from that day forward I decided to knock apples down from trees whenever I got punished, and I've gotten quite good at it too!"

Sain finished his story and the woman burst into laughter again. "Wow what a story! That is really clever! Maybe I'll try it sometime if I need another apple!"

Sain also laughed and nodded his head. "And perhaps I could teach you how to aim better fair lady!" They both laughed and then the woman stopped.

"Oh, forgive me. I didn't even introduce myself! My name is Helen. And you are..?" Sain straightened up and bowed. "I am Sain, the Green Lance, Knight of Caelin former Sub Commander of the Caelin Knights!"

"My." Exclaimed Helen, holding a hand up to hide her smile. "What an important person." Sain straightened up even more at the praise, but his heart was glowing with warmth, and not just because she was impressed.

Before either of them could say anymore, a voice could be heard behind Helen. "Helen! Where are you?" At the same time, Sain heard the voice of Kent coming from behind him, as well as Kent's footsteps hurried in his direction: "Sain! WHAT are you doing?"

Both of them flinched as Deneve and Kent reached them at the same time, each grabbing hold of their friend.

"What have I told you about wandering off like that?" They both said in unison, then stopped and looked at each other.

Kent was the first to break the awkward silence that had befallen them. "Ah, forgive me my ladies. My _friend_ here," and here Kent gave a small yank on Sain's collar which caused him to yelp slightly, "can get out of hand sometimes. Please, if he did anything at all, don't pay it any mind."

"Actually-" Helen started to say, but Deneve interrupted her. "It's fine. He did nothing." Kent bowed slightly towards Deneve, then turned to Sain and yanked him alongside himself, causing the older Knight to stumble along, protesting.

"Aww." Helen whined as she watched the two Knights go. "And I was just getting to know him! Hey, don't you think the other one was kind of cute Deneve?" She said, jabbing her friend in the ribs with her elbow.

"Quit it!" Deneve snapped, causing Helen to frown in disappointment. "You're no fun." Deneve glared at Helen. "Helen, since early this morning Uma's been missing!"

* * *

><p>Miria paced around the room, unable to keep still. Once she had found out that Uma was missing, she had the Cathedral Guards search for her immediately.<p>

It was highly unlike Uma to just go missing, and since the woman had very little self-esteem she would never go too far from the others. When the Guards came back and reported empty handed Miria became worried. Luckily Eliwood had been passing by at that moment and after he asked what was wrong and Miria explained the situation to him, he had members of his army out searching for her as well.

As Miria paced around the room, Eliwood, Hector, Lyn and Mark all sat at one of the tables, and watched the door. Clare, Helen, Deneve, Cynthia and Tabitha were all standing around, worried and waiting. Suddenly the door opened and Miria whirled around to see who it was.

Matthew and Legault walked in, and made their way to the middle of the room.

"Well?" Miria said once they stood there. "Did you find anything?" Matthew nodded and Legault only sighed. "We did. In the gardens we found some bloodstains on the grass. And I'm not talking little splotches of blood, I mean a lot of blood." Matthew said.

The Ghosts of Pieta's eyes widened, but before they could say anything Legault held up his hand. "There's something you need to know about this first. I took a good long look at the surrounding area. There's no blood leading any other way. It's just in one spot."

"Now, I may not be a Cleric or anything, but I was once an Assassin. I know an Assassin's handy work when I see it. This was the work of an Assassin. But there's more." He continued as the others let out a gasp.

"The grass around that area was burned a little. And I don't mean black or burned by a fire. The grass was still green, but incredibly dry and brittle. No, this is the type of burning that comes from a magic user teleporting from that spot. And I found something else too. It apparently got ripped when the person teleported away, though how I'm not sure. However it's design is unmistakable."

And with that Legault tossed a piece of cloth into the air for all to see. And it's design was unmistakable indeed.

"Nergal." Growled Hector, clenching his fists. The Ghosts of Pieta all watched the cloth sail gently to the ground, and their eyes hardened.

"But I don't understand." Lyn said. "Why would Nergal kidnap Uma? What does he have to gain from this?" Miria looked away from the cloth at at the three Lords and Mark.

"When the Organization came to Rabona and told us about Nergal, they talked about him saying something about Quintessence, and wanting more of it from other Warriors."

"Of course!" Shouted Hector jumping up, startling the Claymores. "He wants to absorb the Quintessence of one of you! THAT'S why he kidnapped Uma!"

Eliwood nodded his head in agreement. "It makes sense actually. And all the more reason to get to Staff and defeat Nergal!"

As the three Lords and Mark stood up, the six Claymores walked up to them. "We're going with you." Miria announced.

"Huh?" Hector said, blinking. Eliwood kept quiet and Lyn looked at them curiously. "But, what about Rabona? Weren't you going to stay here?"

Miria nodded, her eyes hard. "We were. But we won't stand by and let Nergal kidnap one of our own comrades. This has now become personal, and we intend to save her."

Mark walked forward and smiled. "We'll be pleased to have you."

* * *

><p>"You want me to <strong>WHAT?<strong>" Heath cried standing in front of Miria. Eliwood had decided that only a few of the army should go with them, while the rest stayed in Rabona to help defend the city.

Of the few that were going to fight Nergal, there was Ninian, Nils, Kent, Sain, Karel, Raven, Lucius, Erk, Legault, Wallace, Vaida, Serra, Rebecca and Wil, Guy, Karla and Dart. Miata was also coming along with Clarice, who said that Miata had strangely insisted on going.

However Heath had been told to stay behind, and he wasn't happy about it. "Why can't I go as well? I can fight! And you'll need someone other then Commander Vaida to fly around and scout for you!"

Miria sighed and placed a hand on Heath's shoulder. "Heath, you're still wounded. I don't understand this magic too well, but from what I understand your wound is infected, preventing your healers from healing it. To take you along would not only slow us down, but would put you in more harm's way then I would wish."

"She's right Heath." Eliwood said walking up to the young man. "You can't fight well in that condition. Besides, when you're able to fight, you'll be able to stay here and protect countless women and children in case Nergal sends more of his Morphs."

Heath heaved a deep sigh, and knew it was pointless to argue. "Alright, fine I get it. I'll stay here and rest up." Miria smiled and gave Heath a brief hug before turning around and walking away with the others.

Eliwood mounted his horse then helped Ninian up. Nils would be riding with Hector while Lyn rode with Mark. Everyone else also had a horse except for the Claymores with the exception of Clarice. They could run fast enough to keep up with them.

"Alright!" Eliwood shouted, his horse rearing up. "_Together, we ride!_"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>_Another long chapter! Yay! I actually had this done earlier, but the site deleted my Capcom Chat Room fanfic and banned me from making or updating any fanfics until tonight, which sucks. So, feel free to blame them for the wait you had to endure!_

_I had fun with this chapter. A lot of fun. To me, in my opinion, this whole chapter flows smoothly and fits well together. But that's just my opinion!  
><em>

_I also had way too much fun with Sain's part. Sain is such a fun character in Fire Emblem! You have to love the pervert! XD  
><em>

_Well, ending the A/N here. Please R&R and maybe even share this with your friends if they love FE and Claymore! More Reviews makes me a happy person, and it brings the chapters out quicker!  
><em>


	11. Chapter Ten: Brief Respite

**Chapter Ten: _Brief Respite__  
><em>**

* * *

><p>The rescue band rode swiftly through the land, stopping only to rest when it was called for. One such stop was near a river where they washed their clothes, took care of some wounds they might have received and rest.<p>

Mark poured over some maps of the area in his tent alongside Eliwood, Hector, Lyn and Miria, trying to find a safe path that would get them to their goal faster.

Miria was impressed with Mark. Even though he was in a strange land, with no knowledge of it, he was picking the best routes simply by listening to Miria telling him the landscape, and by the maps alone.

Outside the tent, Sain was on the prowl. He had spotted the woman called Helen and he was intent on talking to her. Every time they stopped to rest, Sain made his way over to where she was and engaged her in pointless conversation, but she didn't seem to mind and this only encouraged him more.

"Good evening Miss Helen!" He called out cheerfully. Helen turned, smiled, and walked over to him. "Good evening to you too Sir Knight. How are you doing today?"

Sian chuckled; "I'm perfectly fine! In fact, I'm the very picture of health and stamina!" Both of them laughed while Kent looked on, then sighed. He didn't know who to feel more bad for: Sain who probably could never be with the woman, or Helen who would soon find out what type of man Sain was as he ran off after another woman.

He heard a twig snap and turned around slightly to see Deneve walking towards him. He straightened up then bowed.

"Good evening Milady." Deneve blinked, slightly surprised. All men treated them the same, either loathing them or lusting for them: With caution and fear. However these people were different. The green armored Knight, who Deneve found out his name was Sain, complemented them on their looks and flattered them daily, though he did more so with Helen and he seemed to mean it.

The red one in front of her, Kent, treated them with formality and respect, always being polite and never stepping out of line. From what she learned from their Tactician, Mark, it seemed Kent was a lot like her, and her fellow Warriors encouraged her to speak to him, see if it was true.

While reserved about making friends with a normal man, who probably just acted that way because he was a Knight, Deneve also wanted to see if it was true, if they did have some things in common, and if maybe they could talk more.

Shaking her thoughts away, Deneve nodded to Kent. "Good evening." she replied then leaned up against a tree nearby and watched Sain and Helen flirt.

"Your friend over there amazes me." she said after a while, causing Kent to look at her. "He seems very sincere about his complements to Helen, and seems to like her."

Kent sighed. "If only that were true. In truth, Sain acts like that to all women, and will go after any that he lays his eyes on."

Deneve raised an eyebrow at this news, but said nothing of it. Instead she turned her attention to Kent. "Your name is Kent, correct? I've heard about you from your Tactician, Mark. He said you were pretty reserved and serious."

Kent gave a small cough. "Ah yes, that might be true. My comrades often tell me that I'm too serious, and Sain is always telling me to loosen up, and start having fun."

"I see..."

After a short silence between the two, Kent spoke up again. "Pardon my prudence, but your name is Deneve, is it not?"

Deneve looked up at him, then nodded. "Yes, it is. I am Deneve, former number 15 of the Organization."

Kent placed a hand on his chin, seemingly in thought. "Deneve means 'of snow" right?" Deneve blinked in surprise. "Yes, actually it does. How'd you know?"

Kent gave another small cough then turned away. "Er, I used to study names when I was a young lad, and it's stuck with me ever since."

"I see.." Deneve said, watching the Knight. She gave a small smile as she saw his ears turn a slight shade of red.

* * *

><p>Karel stood away from the encampment with his eyes closed, listening to the sound of people bustling around, setting tents up, gathering wood for fire, and other things.<p>

Suddenly he heard some footsteps come up from behind, and he smiled. Opening his eyes he turned around to see Clare standing there, staring at him.

He smirked. "Come for your training?" Clare stared at him, then nodded. Karel turned around and drew his sword, Clare doing the same.

Both tensed up, ready to spring at each other. Clare moved first, moving at blinding speeds striking at Karel viciously. Karel calmly blocked her attacks with his own sword, smirking.

Both leaped back and stood there, staring at each other. Finally, Karel broke the silence. "Good, you're getting faster. Your sword arm is much improved." He sheathed his sword then motioned with his head. Another figure walked out of the woods nearby, and Clare's eyes widened.

It was a woman. However she looked just like Karel, straight down the the long hair black hair, the red sword and the cool expression on her face. She wore the same style of clothing as Karel, but it was white instead of blue. "This is my younger sister, Karla. She will also be helping you train." Karla gave a small bow to Clare. "I am Karla. Pleased to meet you."

Clare nodded once, never taking her eyes off Karel, who kept smirking. "Your opponent is no longer me, so why do you keep your eyes off the enemy?" Clare's eyes widened, and she turned and lifted her sword just in time to block Karla's own.

It was just as unnerving fighting Karla as it was Karel. She was completely calm, but what was more unnerving was she wasn't showing any emotion. She wasn't smiling, smirking or anything. Her entire concentration was on Clare and her sword, letting nothing faze her. She was also just as fast as Karel.

Clare lashed out with her foot, catching Karla in the stomach, then jumped back. She tensed her arm up, about to use the Quicksword, when she suddenly lost sight of Karla. She spun around, but only saw Karel standing there against a tree, arms crossed, watching her.

Clare turned around slowly, wary of where she looked. "Why are you looking over there?" A soft voice said in her ear. Clare froze as she noticed the tip of Karla's sword at her throat. "Enough." Karel called out, then walked off. Karla removed the sword form Clare's throat and sheathed it and smiled.

"You're pretty good Clare. It's been a while since I was able to fight like that. It's no wonder my brother took an interest in you." Karla gave a small bow to Clare then walked away, leaving Clare to sheathe her sword. Clare sighed, then looked at her right arm, Ilena's arm.

_I will get stronger. I have to._

* * *

><p>Back at Camp, Wallace stomped around looking for something to eat. It seemed that the Claymores didn't need to eat much, due to being some type of half-human half-monster hybrid. Wallace didn't listen in on what it was. That meant there would still be food for the day.<p>

However, after fifteen minutes of searching around the camp, Wallace couldn't find where the good supplies were kept. Growling ominously, he took a deep breath and bellowed at the top of his lungs:

**"SAAAAAAAAAAIN!" **

It wasn't long before the Knight in question came dashing out of nowhere, stopping in front of the General, out of breath and wheezing heavily. Wallace smiled and patted him on the back, knocking him to the ground.

"Good man Sain, that's just what I like to see in the Knights of Caelin! Now, where are the food supplies?" Sain lifted his arm and pointed off towards the center of camp, then collapsed. Wallace grinned wolfishly and stomped over to the tent, just in time to be met by Mark who was walking out of it along with Merlinus.

"Good evening Mark." Wallace greeted the Tactician. Mark nodded to him then walked off leaving Merlinus to stare nervously at Wallace.

"Good evening Sir Wallace." Merlinus said, giving a slight bow to Wallace. Wallace looked at them, then walked straight into the tent, grabbed a large loaf of bread, walked out and wolfed it down in a single bite. Nodding to Merlinus, he walked off to his tent to get some rest, leaving the Merchant to stand there in a mix of confusion and shock.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Author's Notes:<em> **_Wow that WAS a brief respite for the chapter! I'm not satisfied about how short it is either, but I just had to upload it, to let you all know I'm not dead._

_So yeah, sorry about my long absence. Been pretty busy and Writer's Block was being vicious. Hopefully I'll dish out the next chapter faster then this one came out.  
><em>

_It's becoming a bit harder to write these chapters as I'm trying to not rush through to the endand I want to add some character developments, plot twists and possible couples. So I apologize in advance when the chapters take longer and longer to come out.  
><em>


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